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

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Speaker 1: Chapter eight, the mahar Temple. The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed
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Speaker 1: quickly into the skiff, and seizing the spear with me,
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Speaker 1: helped to hold off the infuriated creature. Blood from the
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Speaker 1: wounded reptile was now crimsoning the waters about us, and
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Speaker 1: soon from the weakening struggles, it became evident that I
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Speaker 1: had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently, its efforts
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Speaker 1: to reach us ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive movements,
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Speaker 1: it turned upon its back, quite dead. And then there
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Speaker 1: came to me a sudden realization of the predicament in
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Speaker 1: which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the
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Speaker 1: power of the savage man whose skiff I had stolen.
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Speaker 1: Still clinging to the spear, I looked into his face
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Speaker 1: to find him scrutinizing me intently, And there we stood
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Speaker 1: for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon,
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Speaker 1: while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other. What
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Speaker 1: was in his mind, I do not know, but in
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Speaker 1: my own was merely the question as to how soon
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Speaker 1: the fellow would recommence hostilities. Presently he spoke to me,
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Speaker 1: but in a tongue which I was unable to translate.
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Speaker 1: I shook my head in an effort to indicate my
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Speaker 1: ignorance of his language, at the same time addressing him
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Speaker 1: in the bastard tongue that the Sagoths used to converse
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Speaker 1: with the human slaves of the Mahars. To my delight,
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Speaker 1: he understood and answered me in the same jargon. What
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Speaker 1: do you want of my spear? He asked, only to
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Speaker 1: keep you from running it through me? I replied, I
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Speaker 1: would not do that, he said, for you have just
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Speaker 1: saved my life, And with that he released his hold
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Speaker 1: upon it and squatted down in the bottom of the skiff.
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Speaker 1: Who are you, he continued, and from what country do
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Speaker 1: you come? I too, sat down, laying the spear between us,
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Speaker 1: and tried to explain how I came to Pellucidar and wherefrom.
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Speaker 1: But it was as impossible for him to grasp or
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Speaker 1: believe the strange tale. I told him, as I fear
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Speaker 1: it is for you upon the outer crust to believe
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Speaker 1: in the existence of the inner world. To him, it
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Speaker 1: seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there was another world
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Speaker 1: far beneath his feet, peopled by being similar to himself,
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Speaker 1: and he laughed uproariously the more he thought upon it.
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Speaker 1: But it was ever thus, that which has never come
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Speaker 1: within the scope of our really pitifully meager world experience
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Speaker 1: cannot be. Our finite minds cannot grasp that which may
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Speaker 1: not exist in accordance with the conditions which obtain about
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Speaker 1: us upon the outside of the insignificant grain of dust
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Speaker 1: which wends its tiny way among the boulders of the universe,
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Speaker 1: the speck of moist dirt we so proudly call the world.
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Speaker 1: So I gave it up and asked him about himself.
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Speaker 1: He said he was a Mezop, and that his name
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Speaker 1: was Jaw. Who are the Mezops? I asked? Where do
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Speaker 1: they live? He looked at me in surprise. I might
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Speaker 1: indeed believe that you were from another world, he said,
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Speaker 1: For who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant? The Mezops
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Speaker 1: live upon the islands of the seas. In so far
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Speaker 1: as I have ever heard, no mezop lives elsewhere, and
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Speaker 1: no others than Mezops dwell upon the islands. But of
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Speaker 1: course it may be different in other far distant lands.
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Speaker 1: I do not know at any rate. In this sea
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Speaker 1: and those near by, it is true that only people
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Speaker 1: of my race inhabit the islands. We are fishermen, though
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Speaker 1: we be great hunters as well, often going to the
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Speaker 1: mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon
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Speaker 1: all but the larger islands. And we are warriors also,
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Speaker 1: he added proudly. Even the Sagoths of the Mahars fear us. Once,
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Speaker 1: when Pellucidar was young, the Sagoths were wont to capture
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Speaker 1: us for slaves, as they do the other men of Pellucidar.
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Speaker 1: It is handed down from father to son among us
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Speaker 1: that this is so. But we fought so desperately and
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Speaker 1: slew so many Sagoths, and those of us that were
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Speaker 1: captured killed so many Mahars in their own cities, that
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Speaker 1: at last they learned that were better to leave us alone.
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Speaker 1: And later came the time that the Mahars became too
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Speaker 1: indolent even to catch their own fish, except for amusement.
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Speaker 1: And then they needed us to supply their wants, and
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Speaker 1: so a truce was made between the races. Now they
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Speaker 1: give us certain things which we are unable to produce,
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Speaker 1: in return for the fish that we catch, and the
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Speaker 1: Mezops and the Mahars live in peace. The great ones
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Speaker 1: even come to our islands. It is there, far from
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Speaker 1: the prying eyes of their own Sagaths, that they practice
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Speaker 1: their religious rites in the temples they have builded there
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Speaker 1: with our assistants. If you live among us, you will
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Speaker 1: doubtless see the manner of their worship, which is strange, indeed,
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Speaker 1: and most unpleasant for the poor slaves they bring to
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Speaker 1: take part in it. As Ja talked, I had an
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Speaker 1: excellent opportunity to inspect him more closely. He was a
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Speaker 1: huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six or
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Speaker 1: seven inches, well developed, and of a coppery red, not
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Speaker 1: unlike that of our own North American Indian. Nor were
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Speaker 1: his features dissimilar to theirs. He had the aquiline nose
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Speaker 1: found among many of the higher tribes, the prominent cheek bones,
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Speaker 1: and black hair and eyes, but his mouth and lips
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Speaker 1: were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive
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Speaker 1: and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in
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Speaker 1: the miserable makeshift language we were compelled to use. During
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Speaker 1: our conversation, Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling
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Speaker 1: the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that
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Speaker 1: lay some half mile from the mainland. The skill with
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Speaker 1: which he handled his screwde and awkward craft elicited my
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Speaker 1: deepest admiration, since it had been so short a time
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Speaker 1: before that I had made such pitiful work of it.
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Speaker 1: As we touched the pretty level beach, Ja leaped out
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Speaker 1: and I followed him. Together, we dragged the skiff far
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Speaker 1: up into the bushes that grew beyond the sand. We
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Speaker 1: must hide our canoes, explained Ja, for the mezops of
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Speaker 1: Luana are always a war with us, and would steal
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Speaker 1: them if they found them. He nodded toward an island
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Speaker 1: farther out at sea, and at so great a distance
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Speaker 1: that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky.
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Speaker 1: The upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly
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Speaker 1: revealing the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer earthly.
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Speaker 1: To see land and water curving upward in the distance
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Speaker 1: until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted
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Speaker 1: into the distant sky, and to feel that seas and
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Speaker 1: mountains hung suspended directly above one's head, required such a
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Speaker 1: complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost
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Speaker 1: to stupefy one. No sooner had we hidden the canoe
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Speaker 1: than Jaw plunged into the jungle, presently emerging into a
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Speaker 1: narrow but well defined trail which wound hither and thither,
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Speaker 1: much after the manner of the highways of all primitive folk.
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Speaker 1: But there was one peculiarity about this mees up trail,
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Speaker 1: which I was later to find distinguished them from all
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Speaker 1: other trails that I have ever seen within or without
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Speaker 1: the earth. It would run on, plain and clear and
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Speaker 1: well defined, to end suddenly in the midst of a
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Speaker 1: tangle of matted jungle. Then Jaw would turn directly back
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Speaker 1: in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a tree,
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Speaker 1: climb through it to the other side, drop onto a
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Speaker 1: fallen log, leap over a low bush, and alight once
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Speaker 1: more upon a distinct trail, which he would follow back
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Speaker 1: for a short distance, only to turn directly about and
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Speaker 1: retrace his steps until after a mile or less this
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Speaker 1: new pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section.
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Speaker 1: Then he would pass again across some media which would
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Speaker 1: reveal no spoor to take up the broken thread of
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Speaker 1: the trail beyond. As the purpose of this remarkable avenue
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Speaker 1: dawned upon me. I could not but admire the native
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Speaker 1: shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the mezops, who hit
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Speaker 1: upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from his
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Speaker 1: track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to
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Speaker 1: follow him to his deep buried cities. To you of
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Speaker 1: the outer Earth, it might seem a slow and tortuous
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Speaker 1: method of traveling through the jungle, But were you of Pellucidar,
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Speaker 1: you would realize that time is no factor where time
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Speaker 1: does not exist. So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails,
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Speaker 1: so varied, the connecting links, and the distances which one
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Speaker 1: must retrace one's steps from the paths ends to find them,
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Speaker 1: that a mezop often reaches man's estate before he is familiar,
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Speaker 1: even with those which lead from his own city to
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Speaker 1: the sea. In fact, three fourths of the education of
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Speaker 1: the young male mezop consists in familiarizing himself with these
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Speaker 1: jungle avenues, and the status of an adult is largely
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Speaker 1: determined by the number of trails which he can follow
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Speaker 1: upon his own island. The females never learn them, since
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Speaker 1: from birth to death they never leave the clearing in
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Speaker 1: which the village of their nativity is situated, except that
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Speaker 1: they be taken to mate by a male from another village,
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Speaker 1: or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe.
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Speaker 1: After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been
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Speaker 1: upward of five miles, we emerged suddenly into a large
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Speaker 1: clearing in the exact same center of which stood as
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Speaker 1: strange and appearing village as one might well imagine. Large
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Speaker 1: trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above
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Speaker 1: the ground, and upon the tops of them, spherical habitations
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Speaker 1: of woven twigs mud covered had been built. Each ball
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Speaker 1: like house was surmounted by some manner of carbon image,
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Speaker 1: which Jah told me indicated the identity of the owner.
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Speaker 1: Horizontal slits six inches high and two or three feet
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Speaker 1: wide served to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to
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Speaker 1: the house were through small apertures in the bases of
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Speaker 1: the trees, and thence upward by rude ladders through the
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Speaker 1: hollow trunks to the rooms above. The houses varied in
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Speaker 1: size from two to several rooms. The largest that I
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Speaker 1: entered was divided into two floors and eight apartments. All
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Speaker 1: about the village between it and the jungle lay beautifully
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Speaker 1: cultivated fields, in which the Mezops raised such cereals, fruits,
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Speaker 1: and vegetables as they required. Women and children were working
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Speaker 1: in these guards dans. As we crossed toward the village
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Speaker 1: at sight of Jaw, they saluted deferentially, but to me
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Speaker 1: they paid not the slightest attention. Among them, and about
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Speaker 1: the outer verge of the cultivated area were many warriors.
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Speaker 1: These two saluted Ja by touching the points of their
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Speaker 1: spears to the ground directly before them. Ja conducted me
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Speaker 1: to a large house in the center of the village,
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Speaker 1: the house with eight rooms, and taking me up into it,
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Speaker 1: gave me food and drink. There I met his mate,
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Speaker 1: a comely girl with a nursing baby in her arms.
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Speaker 1: Jah told her of how I had saved his life,
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Speaker 1: and she was thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me,
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Speaker 1: even permitting me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle
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Speaker 1: of humanity, whom Jaw told me would one day rule
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Speaker 1: the tribe. For Jaw, it seemed, was the chief of
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Speaker 1: the community. We had eaten and rested, and I had slept,
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Speaker 1: much to Jaw's amusement, for it seemed that he seldom,
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Speaker 1: if ever did so, and then the red man proposed
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Speaker 1: that I accompany him to the temple of the Mahars,
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Speaker 1: which lay not far from his village. Not supposed to
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Speaker 1: visit it, he said, but the great ones cannot hear,
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Speaker 1: and if we keep well out of sight, they need
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Speaker 1: never know that we have been there. For my part,
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Speaker 1: I hate them, and always have. But the other chieftains
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Speaker 1: of the island think it best that we continued to
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Speaker 1: maintain the amicable relations which exist between the two races.
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Speaker 1: Otherwise I should like nothing better than to lead my
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Speaker 1: warriors amongst the hideous creatures and exterminate them. Pellucidar would
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Speaker 1: be a better place to live were there none of them.
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Speaker 1: I wholly concurred in Jaw's belief, but it seemed that
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Speaker 1: it might be a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant
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Speaker 1: race of Pellucidar. Thus, conversing, we followed the intricate trail
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Speaker 1: toward the temple, which we came upon in a small clearing,
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Speaker 1: surrounded by enormous trees, similar to those which must have
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Speaker 1: flourished upon the outer crust during the Carboniferous age. Here
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Speaker 1: was a mighty temple of hewn rock, built in the
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Speaker 1: shape of a rough oval with rounded roof, in which
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Speaker 1: were several large openings. No doors or windows were in
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Speaker 1: the sides of the structure, nor was there need of
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Speaker 1: any except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Jaw explained,
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Speaker 1: the Mahars flew to and from their place of ceremonial
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Speaker 1: entering and leaving the buildings by means of the apertures
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Speaker 1: in the roof. But added Jaw, there is an entrance
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Speaker 1: near the base of which even the Mahars know nothing. Come,
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Speaker 1: and he led me across the clearing and about the
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Speaker 1: end to a pile of loose rock which lay against
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Speaker 1: the foot of the wall. Here he removed a couple
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Speaker 1: of large boulders, revealing a small opening which led straight
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Speaker 1: within the building. Or so it seemed, though as I
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Speaker 1: entered after Ja, I discovered myself in a narrow place
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Speaker 1: of extreme darkness. We are within the outer wall, said Jaw.
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Speaker 1: It is hollow. Follow me closely. The red man groped
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Speaker 1: ahead a few paces, and then began to ascend a
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Speaker 1: primitive ladder, similar to that which leads from the ground
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Speaker 1: to the upper stories of his house. We ascended for
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Speaker 1: some forty feet when the interior of the space between
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Speaker 1: the walls commenced to grow lighter, and presently we came
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Speaker 1: opposite an opening in the inner wall, which gave us
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Speaker 1: an unobstructed view of the entire interior of the temple.
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Speaker 1: The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water,
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Speaker 1: in which numerous hideous mahars swam lazily up and down.
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Speaker 1: Artificial islands of granite rock dotted this artificial sea, and
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Speaker 1: upon several of them, I saw men and women like myself.
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Speaker 1: What are the human beings doing here? I asked, Wait,
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Speaker 1: and you shall see, replied Ja. They are to take
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Speaker 1: part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of
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Speaker 1: the Queen. You may be thankful that you are not
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Speaker 1: upon the same side of the wall as they. Scarcely
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Speaker 1: had he spoken, than we heard a great fluttering of
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Speaker 1: wings above, and a moment later a long procession of
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Speaker 1: the frightful reptiles of Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through
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Speaker 1: the large central opening in the roof and circled in
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Speaker 1: stately manner about the temple. There were several mahars first,
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Speaker 1: and then at least twenty inspiring pterodactyls thipdars, there called
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Speaker 1: within Pellucidar. Behind these came the Queen, flanked by other Thipdars,
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Speaker 1: as she had been when she entered the amphitheater at Phutra.
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Speaker 1: Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval
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Speaker 1: chamber to settle, finally upon the damp, cold boulders that
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Speaker 1: fringed the outer edge of the pool. In the center
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Speaker 1: of one side, the largest rock was reserved for the queen,
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Speaker 1: and here she took her place, surrounded by her terrible guard.
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Speaker 1: All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places.
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Speaker 1: One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor
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Speaker 1: slaves upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with
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Speaker 1: wide eyes. The men, for the most part, stood erect
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Speaker 1: and stately, with folded arms, awaiting their doom, but the
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Speaker 1: women and children clung to one another, hiding behind the males.
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Speaker 1: There a noble looking race, these cave men of Pellucidar,
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Speaker 1: And if our progenditors were as they, the human race
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Speaker 1: of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than proved. With
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Speaker 1: the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity.
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Speaker 1: We have opportunity, and little else now the queen moved.
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Speaker 1: She raised her ugly head, looking about. Then very slowly
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Speaker 1: she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid
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Speaker 1: noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank
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Speaker 1: she swam, turning at the ends, as you have seen
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Speaker 1: captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, turning upon their backs,
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Speaker 1: and diving below the surface. Nearer and nearer to the
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Speaker 1: island she came, until at last she remained at rest
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Speaker 1: before the largest which was directly opposite her throne. Raising
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Speaker 1: her hideous head from the water, she fixed her great
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Speaker 1: round eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek,
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Speaker 1: for they had been brought from a distant mahar city,
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Speaker 1: where human beings are kept in droves and bread, and
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Speaker 1: fattened as we breed in fatten beef cattle. The queen
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Speaker 1: fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim
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Speaker 1: tried to turn away, hiding her face in her hands
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Speaker 1: and kneeling behind a woman, But the reptile, with unblinking eyes,
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Speaker 1: stared on with such fixity that I could have sworn
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Speaker 1: Her vision penetrated the woman and the girl's arms to
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Speaker 1: reach at last the very center of her brain. Slowly
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Speaker 1: the reptile's head commenced to move to and fro, but
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Speaker 1: the eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl,
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Speaker 1: And then the victim responded. She turned wide, fear haunted
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Speaker 1: eyes toward the mahar queen. Slowly she rose to her feet,
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Speaker 1: and then, as though dragged by some unseen power, she
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Speaker 1: moved as one in a trance, straight toward the reptile,
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Speaker 1: her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To
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Speaker 1: the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause,
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Speaker 1: but stepped into the shallows beside the little island. On
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Speaker 1: she moved toward the mahar who now slowly retreated as
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Speaker 1: though leading her victim. On the water rose to the
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Speaker 1: girl's knees, and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye.
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Speaker 1: Now the water was at her waist, now her armpits.
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Speaker 1: Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, helpless
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Speaker 1: to avert her doom, in which they saw a forecast
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Speaker 1: of their own. The Mahars sank now till only the
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Speaker 1: long upper bill and eyes were exposed above the surface
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Speaker 1: of the water, and the girl had advanced until the
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Speaker 1: end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or
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Speaker 1: two from her face, Her horror filled eyes riveted upon
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Speaker 1: those of the reptile. Now the water passed above the
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Speaker 1: girl's mouth and nose, her eyes and forehead all that showed,
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Speaker 1: Yet she still walked on. After the retreating Maehar, the
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Speaker 1: queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the surface, and after it
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Speaker 1: went the eyes of her victim. Only a slow ripple
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Speaker 1: widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished.
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Speaker 1: For a time, all was silence within the temple. The
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Speaker 1: slaves were motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface
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Speaker 1: of the water for the reappearance of their queen, and presently,
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Speaker 1: at one end of the tank, her head rose slowly
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Speaker 1: into view. She was backing toward the surface, her eyes
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Speaker 1: fixed before her, as they had been when she dragged
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Speaker 1: the helpless girl to her doom. And then, to my
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Speaker 1: utter amazement, I saw the forehead and eyes of the
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Speaker 1: maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze
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Speaker 1: of the reptile, just as when she had disappeared beneath
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Speaker 1: the surface. On and on came the girl until she
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Speaker 1: stood in water that reached barely to her knees, and
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Speaker 1: though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time to
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Speaker 1: have drowned her thrice over, there was no indication other
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Speaker 1: than her dripping hair and glistening body that she had
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Speaker 1: been submerged at all. Again and again, the Queen led
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Speaker 1: the girl into the depths and out again, until the
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Speaker 1: uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves so
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Speaker 1: that I could have leaped into the tank to the
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Speaker 1: child's rescue, had I not taken a firm hold of myself.
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Speaker 1: Once they were below the surface much longer than usual,
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Speaker 1: and when they came to the surface, I was horrified
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Speaker 1: to see that one of the girl's arms was gone,
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Speaker 1: gnawed completely off at the shoulder. But the poor thing
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Speaker 1: gave no indication of realizing pain. Only the horror in
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Speaker 1: her set eyes seemed intensified. The next time they appeared,
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Speaker 1: the the other arm was gone, and then the breasts,
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Speaker 1: and then a part of the face. It was awful.
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Speaker 1: The poor creatures on the islands, awaiting their fate, tried
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Speaker 1: to cover their eyes with their hands to hide the
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Speaker 1: fearful sight. But now I saw that they too were
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Speaker 1: under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that they
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Speaker 1: could only crouch in terror, with their eyes fixed upon
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Speaker 1: the terrible thing that was transpiring before them. Finally, the
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Speaker 1: Queen was under much longer than ever before, and when
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Speaker 1: she arose, she came alone and swam sleepily toward her boulder.
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Speaker 1: The moment she mounted it seemed to be a signal
19:33
Speaker 1: for the other Mahars to enter the tank, and then
19:35
Speaker 1: commenced upon a larger scale, a repetition of the uncanny
19:39
Speaker 1: performance through which the Queen had led her victim. Only
19:42
Speaker 1: the women and children fell prey to the Mahars, they
19:46
Speaker 1: being the weakest and most tender, and when they had
19:49
Speaker 1: satisfied their appetite for human flesh, some of them devouring
19:53
Speaker 1: two or three of the slaves. There were only a
19:55
Speaker 1: score of full grown men left, and I thought that
19:58
Speaker 1: for some reason these were to be space. But such
20:01
Speaker 1: was far from the case, for as the last Mahar
20:04
Speaker 1: crawled to her rock, the Queen's thipdars darted into the air,
20:07
Speaker 1: circled the temple once, and then, hissing like steam engines,
20:11
Speaker 1: swooped down upon the remaining slaves. There was no hypnotism here,
20:15
Speaker 1: just the plain brutal ferocity of the beast of prey, tearing, rending,
20:20
Speaker 1: and gulping its meat. But at that it was less
20:23
Speaker 1: horrible than the uncanny method of the Mahars. By the
20:27
Speaker 1: time the Thipdars had disposed of the last of the slaves,
20:30
Speaker 1: the Mahars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a
20:33
Speaker 1: moment later the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts
20:36
Speaker 1: beside the queen, and themselves dropped into slumber. I thought
20:40
Speaker 1: the Mahars seldom, if ever slept, I said to Jah,
20:44
Speaker 1: they do many things in this temple which they do
20:46
Speaker 1: not do elsewhere. He replied, the Mahars of Phutra are
20:50
Speaker 1: not supposed to eat human flesh. Yet slaves are brought
20:53
Speaker 1: here by the thousands, and almost always you will find
20:56
Speaker 1: Mahars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they
20:59
Speaker 1: do not their sagoths here because they are ashamed of
21:02
Speaker 1: the practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the
21:05
Speaker 1: least advanced of their race. But I would wager my
21:08
Speaker 1: canoe against a broken paddle that there is no mahar
21:11
Speaker 1: but eats human flesh whenever she can get it. Why
21:15
Speaker 1: should they object to eating human flesh? I asked, if
21:17
Speaker 1: it is true that they look upon us as lower animals.
21:21
Speaker 1: It is not because they consider us their equals that
21:23
Speaker 1: they are supposed to look with abhorrence upon those who
21:26
Speaker 1: eat our flesh, replied JA, it is merely that we
21:29
Speaker 1: are warm blooded animals. They would not think of eating
21:33
Speaker 1: the meat of a thag, which we consider such a delicacy,
21:36
Speaker 1: any more than I would think of eating a snake.
21:39
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it is difficult to explain
21:41
Speaker 1: just why the sentiment should exist among them. I wonder
21:44
Speaker 1: if they left a single victim, I remarked, leaning far
21:48
Speaker 1: out of the opening in the rocky wall to inspect
21:50
Speaker 1: the temple better. Directly below me, the water lapped the
21:53
Speaker 1: very side of the wall, there being a break in
21:56
Speaker 1: the boulders at this point, as there was at several
21:58
Speaker 1: other places about the side of the temple. My hands
22:02
Speaker 1: were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed
22:04
Speaker 1: part of the wall, and all my weight upon it
22:07
Speaker 1: proved too much for it. It slipped and I plunged forward.
22:11
Speaker 1: There was nothing to save myself, and I plunged head
22:13
Speaker 1: foremost into the water below. Fortunately the tank was deep
22:18
Speaker 1: at this point and I suffered no injury from the fall.
22:21
Speaker 1: But as I was rising to the surface. My mind
22:23
Speaker 1: filled with the horrors of my position as I thought
22:25
Speaker 1: of the terrible doom which awaited me the moment the
22:28
Speaker 1: eyes of the reptiles fell upon the creature that had
22:31
Speaker 1: disturbed their slumber. As long as I could, I remained
22:34
Speaker 1: beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in the direction of the islands,
22:38
Speaker 1: that I might prolong my life to the utmost. At last,
22:41
Speaker 1: I was forced to rise for air, and as I
22:44
Speaker 1: cast a terrified glance in the direction of the Mahars
22:46
Speaker 1: and the Thipdars, I was almost stunned to see that
22:49
Speaker 1: not a single one remained upon the rocks where I
22:51
Speaker 1: had last seen them, Nor as I searched the temple
22:54
Speaker 1: with my eyes, could I discern any within it. For
22:57
Speaker 1: a moment, I was puzzled to account for the thing,
22:59
Speaker 1: until I realized that the reptiles, being deaf, could not
23:02
Speaker 1: have been disturbed by the noise my body made when
23:05
Speaker 1: it hit the water, and that, as there is no
23:07
Speaker 1: such thing as time within Pellucidar, there was no telling
23:10
Speaker 1: how long I had been beneath the surface. It was
23:13
Speaker 1: a difficult thing to attempt to figure out by earthly
23:15
Speaker 1: standards this matter of elapsed time. But when I set
23:19
Speaker 1: myself to it, I began to realize that I might
23:22
Speaker 1: have been submerged a second, or a month, or not
23:25
Speaker 1: at all. You have no conception of the strange contradictions
23:28
Speaker 1: and impossibilities which arise when all methods of measuring time
23:32
Speaker 1: as we know them upon the earth are non existent.
23:35
Speaker 1: I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which
23:38
Speaker 1: had saved me for the moment when the memory of
23:40
Speaker 1: the hypnotic powers of the Mahars filled me with apprehension
23:44
Speaker 1: lest they be practicing their uncanny art upon me, to
23:47
Speaker 1: the end that I merely imagined that I was alone
23:50
Speaker 1: in the temple. At the thought, cold sweat broke out
23:53
Speaker 1: upon me from every pore, and as I crawled from
23:56
Speaker 1: the water on to one of the tiny islands, I
23:58
Speaker 1: was trembling like a leaf. You cannot imagine the awful
24:01
Speaker 1: horror which even the simple thought of the repulsive Mahars
24:04
Speaker 1: of Pellucidar induces in the human mind. And to feel
24:08
Speaker 1: that you are in their power, that they are crawling, slimy, abhorrent,
24:12
Speaker 1: to drag you down beneath the waters and devour you,
24:16
Speaker 1: it is frightful. But they did not come, and at
24:19
Speaker 1: last I came to the conclusion that I was indeed
24:22
Speaker 1: alone within the temple. How long I should be alone
24:24
Speaker 1: was the next question to assail me, as I swam
24:27
Speaker 1: frantically about once more in search of a means to escape.
24:31
Speaker 1: Several times I called to Jaw, but he must have
24:34
Speaker 1: left after I tumbled into the tank, for I received
24:36
Speaker 1: no response to my cries. Doubtless he had felt as
24:39
Speaker 1: certain of my doom when he saw me topple from
24:41
Speaker 1: our hiding place as I had, and lest he, too
24:44
Speaker 1: should be discovered, had hastened from the temple and back
24:47
Speaker 1: to his village. I knew that there must be some
24:51
Speaker 1: entrance to the building beside the doorways in the roof,
24:54
Speaker 1: for it did not seem reasonable to believe that the
24:56
Speaker 1: thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the
24:59
Speaker 1: Mahars the human flesh they craved would all be carried
25:03
Speaker 1: through the air. And so I continued my search until
25:06
Speaker 1: at last it was rewarded by the discovery of several
25:09
Speaker 1: loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of
25:12
Speaker 1: the temple. A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough
25:16
Speaker 1: of these stones to permit me to crawl through into
25:18
Speaker 1: the clearing, and a moment later I had scurried across
25:21
Speaker 1: the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond. Here I sank,
25:25
Speaker 1: panting and trembling, upon the matted grasses beneath the giant trees.
25:29
Speaker 1: For I felt that I had escaped from the grinning
25:32
Speaker 1: fangs of death, out of the depths of my own grave.
25:36
Speaker 1: Whatever dangers lay in this island jungle, there could be
25:38
Speaker 1: none so fearsome as those which I had just escaped.
25:42
Speaker 1: I knew that I could meet death bravely enough, if
25:44
Speaker 1: it but came in the form of some familiar beast
25:47
Speaker 1: or man, anything other than the hideous and uncanny Mahars.
25:53
Speaker 1: End of chapter eight