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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven Freedom. Once out of the direct path of
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  Speaker 1: the animal, fear of it left me, but another emotion
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  Speaker 1: as quickly gripped me, hope of escape that the demoralized
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  Speaker 1: condition of the guards made possible. For the instant I
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  Speaker 1: thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might
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  Speaker 1: better encompass his release if myself free, I should have
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  Speaker 1: put the thought of freedom from me at once. As
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  Speaker 1: it was, I hastened on toward the right, searching for
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  Speaker 1: an exit toward which no sagoths were fleeing, And at
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  Speaker 1: last I found it, a low, narrow aperture leading into
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  Speaker 1: a dark corridor. Without thought of the possible consequence, I
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  Speaker 1: darted into the shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way
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  Speaker 1: along through the gloom. For some distance, the noises of
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  Speaker 1: the amphitheater had grown fainter and fainter, until now all
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  Speaker 1: was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint light
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  Speaker 1: filtered from above through occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but
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  Speaker 1: it was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to
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  Speaker 1: cope with the darkness, and so I was forced to
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  Speaker 1: move with extreme care, feeling my way along step by step,
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  Speaker 1: with a hand upon the wall. Beside me. Presently the
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  Speaker 1: light increased, and a moment later, to my delight, I
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  Speaker 1: came upon a flight of step leading upward, at the
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  Speaker 1: top of which the brilliant light of the noonday sun
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  Speaker 1: shone through an opening in the ground. Cautiously, I crept
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  Speaker 1: up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering out,
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  Speaker 1: saw the broad plain of Phutra before me. The numerous
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  Speaker 1: lofty granite towers which mark the several entrances to the
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  Speaker 1: subterranean city, were all in front of me. Behind the
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  Speaker 1: plain stretched level and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I
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  Speaker 1: had come to the surface, then beyond the city, and
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  Speaker 1: my chances for escape seemed much enhanced. My first impulse
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  Speaker 1: was to await darkness before attempting to cross the plain,
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  Speaker 1: so deeply implanted are habits of thought. But of a
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  Speaker 1: sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelops Pellucidar,
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  Speaker 1: and with a smile, I stepped forth into the daylight.
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  Speaker 1: Rank grass waist high grows upon the plain of Phutra,
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  Speaker 1: the gorgeous flowering grass of the inner world, each particular
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  Speaker 1: blade of which is tipped with a tiny five pointed blossom,
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  Speaker 1: brilliant little stars of varying colors that twinkle in the
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  Speaker 1: green foliage, to add still another charm to the weird
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  Speaker 1: yet lovely landscape. But then the only aspect which attracted
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  Speaker 1: me was the distant hills in which I hoped to
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  Speaker 1: find sanctuary, and so I hastened on trampling the myriad
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  Speaker 1: beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Parry says that the force
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  Speaker 1: of gravity is less upon the surface of the inner
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  Speaker 1: world than upon that of the outer. He explained it
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  Speaker 1: all to me once, but I was never particularly brilliant
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  Speaker 1: in such matters, and so most of it has escaped
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  Speaker 1: me as I recall it. The difference is due in
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  Speaker 1: some part to the counter attraction of that portion of
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  Speaker 1: the Earth's crust directly opposite the spot upon the face
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  Speaker 1: of Pellucidar at which one's calculations are being made. Be
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  Speaker 1: that as it may, it always seemed to me that
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  Speaker 1: I moved with greater speed and agility within Pellucidar than
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  Speaker 1: upon the outer surface. There was a certain airy lightness
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  Speaker 1: of step that was most pleasing, and a feeling of
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  Speaker 1: bodily detachment which I can only compare with that occasionally
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  Speaker 1: experienced in dreams, and as I crossed Phutra's flower bespangled
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  Speaker 1: plain that time I seemed almost to fly. Though how
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  Speaker 1: much of the sensation was due to Perry's suggestion and
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  Speaker 1: how much to actuality, I am sure I do not know.
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  Speaker 1: The more I thought of Perry, the less pleasure I
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  Speaker 1: took in my new found freedom. There could be no
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  Speaker 1: liberty for me within Pellucidar unless the old man shared
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  Speaker 1: it with me, and only the hope that I might
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  Speaker 1: find some way to encompass his release kept me from
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  Speaker 1: turning back to Phutra. Just how I was to help
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  Speaker 1: Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that some
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  Speaker 1: fortuitous circumstance might solve the proper problem for me. It
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  Speaker 1: was quite evident, however, that little less than a miracle
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  Speaker 1: could aid me, for what could I accomplish in this
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  Speaker 1: strange world, naked and unarmed? It was even doubtful that
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  Speaker 1: I could retrace my steps to Phutra should I once
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  Speaker 1: pass beyond view of the plain, And even were that possible,
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  Speaker 1: what aid could I bring to Perry? No matter how
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  Speaker 1: far I wandered, The case looked more and more hopeless
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  Speaker 1: the longer I viewed it. Yet with a stubborn persistency,
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  Speaker 1: I forged a head toward the foothills behind me. No
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  Speaker 1: sign of pursuit developed before me. I saw no living thing.
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  Speaker 1: It was as though I moved through a dead and
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  Speaker 1: forgotten world. I have no idea, of course, how long
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  Speaker 1: it took me to reach the limit of the plain.
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  Speaker 1: But at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty
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  Speaker 1: little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me froliced a
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  Speaker 1: laughing brooklet. Hurrying upon its noisy way down to the
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  Speaker 1: silent sea. In its quieter pools, I discovered many small
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  Speaker 1: fish of four or five pound weight. I should imagine
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  Speaker 1: in appearance, except as to size and color, they were
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  Speaker 1: not unlike the whale of our own seas. As I
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  Speaker 1: watched them playing about, I discovered not only that they
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  Speaker 1: suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to
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  Speaker 1: the surface to breathe, as well as to feed upon
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  Speaker 1: certain grasses and a strange scarlet lichen which grew upon
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  Speaker 1: the rocks just above the water line. It was this
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  Speaker 1: last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to
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  Speaker 1: capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans, that is what Perry
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  Speaker 1: calls them, and make as good a meal as one
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  Speaker 1: can on raw, warm blooded fish. But I had become
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  Speaker 1: rather used by this time to the eating of food
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  Speaker 1: in its natural state, though I still balked on the
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  Speaker 1: eyes and entrails, much to the amusement of Ghak, to
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  Speaker 1: whom I always passed these delicacies. Crouching beside the brook,
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  Speaker 1: I waited until one of the diminutive purple whales rose
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  Speaker 1: to nibble at the long grasses which overhung the water.
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  Speaker 1: And then, like the beast of prey that man really is,
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  Speaker 1: I sprang upon my victim, appeasing my hunger, while he
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  Speaker 1: yet wriggled to escape. Then I drank from the clear pool,
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  Speaker 1: and after washing my hands and face, continued my flight.
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  Speaker 1: Above the source of the brook. I encountered a rugged
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  Speaker 1: climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was
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  Speaker 1: a steep declivity to the shore of a placid inland sea,
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  Speaker 1: upon the quiet surface of which lay several beautiful islands.
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  Speaker 1: The view was charming in the extreme, and as no
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  Speaker 1: man or beast was to be seen that might threaten
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  Speaker 1: my new found liberty, I slid over the edge of
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  Speaker 1: the bluff, and half sliding, half falling, dropped into the
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  Speaker 1: delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer
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  Speaker 1: a haven of peace and security. The gently sloping beach
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  Speaker 1: along which I walked was thickly strewn with strangely shaped
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  Speaker 1: colored shells, some empty, others still housing as buried a
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  Speaker 1: multitude of mollusks, as ever might have drawn out their
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  Speaker 1: sluggish lives upon the silent shores of the antidiluvian seas
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  Speaker 1: of the outer Crust. As I walked, I could not
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  Speaker 1: but compare myself with the first man of that other world,
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  Speaker 1: so complete the solitude which surrounded me, so primal and untouched,
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  Speaker 1: the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt
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  Speaker 1: myself a second atom, wending my lonely way through the
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  Speaker 1: childhood of a world, searching for my eve. And at
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  Speaker 1: the thought, there rose before my mind's eye the exquisite
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  Speaker 1: outlines of a perfect face, surmounted by a loose pile
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  Speaker 1: of wondrous raven hair. As I walked, my eyes were
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  Speaker 1: bent upon the beach, so that it was not until
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  Speaker 1: I had come quite upon it that I discovered that
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  Speaker 1: which shattered all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety,
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  Speaker 1: and peace and primal overlordship. The thing was a hollowed
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  Speaker 1: log drawn upon the sands, and in the bottom of
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  Speaker 1: it lay a crude paddle. The rude shock of awakening
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  Speaker 1: to what, doubtless might prove some new form of danger
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  Speaker 1: was still upon me when I heard a rattling of
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  Speaker 1: loose stones from the direction of the bluff, and turning
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  Speaker 1: my eyes in that direction, I beheld the author of
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  Speaker 1: the disturbance, a great copper colored man, running rapidly toward me.
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  Speaker 1: There was that in the haste with which he came,
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  Speaker 1: which seemed quite sufficiently menacing, so that I did not
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  Speaker 1: need the added evidence of brandishing spear and scowling face
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  Speaker 1: to warn me that I was in no safe position.
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  Speaker 1: But whither to flee was indeed a momentous question. The
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  Speaker 1: speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of
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  Speaker 1: escaping him. Upon the open beach, there was but a
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  Speaker 1: single alternative, the rude skiff, And with a celerity which
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  Speaker 1: equalled his, I pushed the thing into the sea, and
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  Speaker 1: as it floated, gave a final shove and clambered in
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  Speaker 1: Over the end. A cry of rage rose from the
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  Speaker 1: owner of the primitive craft, and an instant later his
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  Speaker 1: heavy stone tipped spear grazed my shoulder and buried itself
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  Speaker 1: in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped
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  Speaker 1: the paddle and with feverish haste, urged the awkward, wobbly
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  Speaker 1: thing out upon the surface of the sea. A glance
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  Speaker 1: over my shoulder showed me that the copper colored one
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  Speaker 1: had plunged in after me, and was swimming rapidly in pursuit.
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  Speaker 1: His mighty strokes bade fair to close up the distance
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  Speaker 1: between us in short order, for at best I could
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  Speaker 1: make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft, which nosed
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  Speaker 1: stubbornly in every direction but that which I desired to follow,
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  Speaker 1: so that fully half my energy was expended in turning
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  Speaker 1: its blunt prow back into the course. I had covered
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  Speaker 1: some hundred yards from shore when it became evident that
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  Speaker 1: my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within
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  Speaker 1: the next half dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair,
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  Speaker 1: I bent to the grandfather of all paddles in a
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  Speaker 1: hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper giant behind
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  Speaker 1: me gained and gained his hand was reaching upward for
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  Speaker 1: the stern, when I saw a sleek, sinuous body shoot
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  Speaker 1: from the depths below. The man saw it too, and
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  Speaker 1: the look of terror that overspread his face assured me
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  Speaker 1: that I need have no further concern as to him,
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  Speaker 1: for the fear of certain death was in his look.
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  Speaker 1: And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of
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  Speaker 1: a hideous monster of that prehistoric deep, a mighty serpent
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  Speaker 1: of the sea, with fanged jaws and darting forked tongue,
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  Speaker 1: with bulging eyes and bony protuberances upon head and snout
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  Speaker 1: that formed short stout horns. As I looked at that
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  Speaker 1: hopeless struggle, my eyes met those of the doomed man,
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  Speaker 1: and I could have sworn that in his I saw
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  Speaker 1: an expression of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not,
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  Speaker 1: there swept through me a sudden compassion for the fellow.
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  Speaker 1: He was indeed a brother man, and that he might
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  Speaker 1: have killed me with pleasure had he caught me was
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  Speaker 1: forgotten in the extremity of his danger. Unconsciously, I had
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  Speaker 1: ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my pursuer.
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  Speaker 1: So now the skiff still drifted close beside the two.
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  Speaker 1: The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim,
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  Speaker 1: before he closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged
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  Speaker 1: him down to his dark den beneath the surface to
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  Speaker 1: devour him. The huge snakelike body coiled and uncoiled about
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  Speaker 1: its prey. The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face,
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  Speaker 1: the forked tongue, lightning like, ran in and out upon
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  Speaker 1: the copper's skin. Nobly, the giant battled for his life,
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  Speaker 1: beating with his stone hatchet against the bony armor that
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  Speaker 1: covered the frightful carcass. But for all the damage he inflicted,
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  Speaker 1: he might as well have struck with his open palm.
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  Speaker 1: At last, I could endure no longer to sit supinely
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  Speaker 1: by while a fellow man was dragged down to a
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  Speaker 1: horrible death by that repulsive reptile. Embedded in the prow
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  Speaker 1: of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast
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  Speaker 1: after me by him, whom I suddenly desired to save.
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  Speaker 1: With a wrench, I tore it loose, and, standing upright
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  Speaker 1: in the wobbly log, drove it with all the strength
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  Speaker 1: of my two arms, straight into the gaping jaws of
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  Speaker 1: the hydrophidian, With a loud hiss, the creature abandoned its
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  Speaker 1: prey to turn upon me, but the spear embedded in
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  Speaker 1: its throat prevented it from seizing me, though it came
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  Speaker 1: near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to
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  Speaker 1: reach me. End of Chapter seven