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09 - At The Earth's Core - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Adventure Books Library

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Chapter nine, The Face of Death. I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion.
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When I awoke, I was very hungry, and after busying myself searching
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for fruit for a while, I set off through the jungle to find the
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beach. I knew that the island was not so large, but that I
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could easily find the sea if I did but move in a straight line.
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But there came the difficulty, as there was no way in which I could
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direct my course and hold it, the sun, of course, being always
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directly above my head, and the trees so thickly set that I could see
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no distant object which might serve to guide me in a straight line. As
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it was, I must have walked for a great distance, since I ate
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four times and slept twice before I reached the sea. But at last I
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did so, and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by
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the chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes through which I had stumbled
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just prior to coming upon the beach. I can tell you that it did
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not take me long to pull that awkward craft down to the water and shove
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it far out from shore. My experience with jaw it taught me that if
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I were to steal another canoe, I must be quick about it and get
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far beyond the owner's reach as soon as possible. I must have come out
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upon the opposite side of the island from that at which Jah and I had
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entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in sight. For a long time,
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I paddled round the shore, though well out before I saw the mainland
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in the distance. At the sight of it, I lost no time in
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directing my course toward it, for I had long since made up my mind
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to return to Phutra and give myself up, that I might be once more
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with Perry and Ghak the Hairy One. I felt that I was a fool
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ever to have attempted to escape alone, especially in view of the fact that
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our plans were already well formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of
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course, I realized that the chances of the success of our proposed venture were
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slim. Indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom without Perry
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so long as the old man lived, and I had learned that the probability
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that I might find him was less than slight. Had Perry been dead,
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I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit against the savage and primordial world
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in which I found myself. I could have lived in seclusion with thin some
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rocky cave until I had found the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons
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of the Stone Age, and then set out in search of her, whose
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image had now become the constant companion of my waking hours and the central and
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beloved figure of my dreams. But to the best of my knowledge, Parry
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still lived, and it was my duty and wish to be again with him,
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that we might share the dangers and vicissitudes of this strange world we had
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discovered. And Ghak, too, the great shaggy man, had found a
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place in the hearts of us, both, for he was indeed every inch
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a man and king, uncouth perhaps, and brutal too, if judged too
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harshly by the standards of a feat twentieth century civilization. But withal noble,
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dignified, chivalrous, and lovable chance carried me to the very beach upon which
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I had discovered Jaw's canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up
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the steep bank to retrace my steps from the plain of Phutra. But my
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troubles came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit, For here I found
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that several of them centered at the point where I crossed the divide, and
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which one I had traversed to reach the pass. I could not, for
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the life of me remember it was all matter of chance, And so I
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set off down that which seemed the easiest going. And in this I made
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the same mistake that many of us two in selecting the path along which we
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shall follow out the course of our lives, and again learned that it is
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not always best to follow the line of least resistance. By the time I
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had eaten eight meals and slept twice, I was convinced that I was upon
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the wrong trail. For between Putras in the inland sea, I had not
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slept at all and had eaten but once to retrace my steps to the summit
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of the divide and explore another canyon seemed the only solution of my problem.
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But a sudden widening and levelness of the canyon just before me seemed to suggest
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that it was about to open into a level country, And with the lure
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of discovery strong upon me, I decided to proceed, but a short distance
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farther before I turned back. The next turn of the canyon brought me to
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its mouth, and before me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an
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ocean. At my right, the side of the canyon continued to the water's
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edge, the valley lying to my left, and the foot of it running
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gradually into the sea, where it formed a broad level beach. Clumps of
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strange trees dotted the landscape here and there, almost to the water, and
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rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of the vegetation, I
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was convinced that the land between the ocean and the foothills was swampy, though
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directly before me it seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip,
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along which the restless waters advanced and retreated. Curiosity prompted me to walk down
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to the beach, for the scene was very beautiful. As I passed along
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beside the deep and tangled vegetation of the swamp, I thought that I saw
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a movement of the ferns at my left, but though I stopped a moment
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to look, it was not repeated, and if anything lay hid there,
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my eyes could not penetrate the dense foliage to discern it. Presently I stood
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upon the beach, looking out over that wide and lonely sea, across whose
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forbidding bosom, no human being had yet ventured to discover what strange and mysterious
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lands lay beyond, or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders or
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adventure, What savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very instant
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watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore. How far did it
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extend? Parry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in comparison
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with those of the outer crust. But even so this great ocean might stretch
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its broad expanse for thousands of miles, for countless ages it had rolled up
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and down its countless miles of shore, And yet to day it remained all
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unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible from its beaches. The fascination of
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speculation was strong upon me. It was as though I had been carried back
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to the birth time of our own outer world to look upon its lands and
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seas ages before man had traversed either. Here was a new world, all
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untouched, It called to me to explore it. I was dreaming of the
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excitement and adventure which lay before us. Could parry and I but escaped the
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mahars when something, a slight noise, I imagine, drew my attention behind
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me. As I turned romance, adventure, and discovery in the abstract,
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took wing before the terrible embodied of all three in concrete form, that I
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beheld advancing upon me. A huge, slimy amphibian. It was with a
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toad like body and the mighty jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must
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have weighed tons, and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon
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one hand was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea. On
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the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature had sneaked upon me. Behind
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lay the mighty untracked sea. And before me, in the center of the
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narrow way that led to safety, stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing
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flesh. A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I
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was facing one of those long extinct prehistoric creatures whose fossilized remains are found within
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the outer crust, as far back as the Triassic Formation, a gigantic labyrinthodon,
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and there I was unarmed and with the exception of a loincloth, as
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naked as I had come in to the world. I could imagine how my
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first ancestor felt that distant, prehistoric mourn that he encountered for the first time.
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The terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside the restless,
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mysterious sea. Unquestionably he had survived or I should not have been within
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Pellucidar or elsewhere, And I wished at that moment that he had handed down
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to me with the various attributes that I presumed I have inherited from him,
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the specific application of the instinct of self preservation which saved him from the fate
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which loomed so close before me to day. To seek escape in the swamp
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or in the ocean would have been similar to jumping into a den of lions
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who escape one upon the outside. The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive
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with these mighty carnivorous amphibians, and if not, the individual that menaced me
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would pursue me into either the sea or swamp with equal facility. There seemed
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nothing to do but stand super finely and await my end. I thought of
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Perry, how he would wonder what had become of me. I thought of
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my friends of the outer world, and of how they all would go on
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living their lives in total ignorance of the strange and terrible fate that had overtaken
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me, or unguessing the weird surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of
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my extinction. And with these thoughts came a realization of how unimportant to the
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life and happiness of the world is the existence of any one of us.
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We may be snuffed out without an instant's warning, and for a brief day,
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our friends speak of us with subdued voices. The following morning, while
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the first worm is busily engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, they
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are teeing up for the first whole to suffer more acute sorrow over a sliced
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ball than they did over our to us untimely demise. The labyrinthodon was coming
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more slowly now. He seemed to realize that that escape for me was impossible,
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and I could have sworn that his huge fanged jaws grinned and pleasurable appreciation
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of my predicament, or was it in anticipation of the juicy morsel which would
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so soon be pulp between those formidable teeth. He was about fifty feet from
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me when I heard a voice calling to me from the direction of the bluff
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at my left. I looked and could have shouted in delight at the sight
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that met my eyes, for there stood Jaw, waving frantically to me and
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urging me to run for it to the cliff's base. I had no idea
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that I should escape the monster that had marked me for his breakfast, but
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at least I should not die alone. Human eyes would watch me end.
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It was cold comfort, I presume, but yet I derived some slight peace
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of mind from the contemplation of it. To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward
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that steep and unscalable cliff, and yet I did so. And as I
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ran, I saw Jaw agile as a monkey crawled down the precipitous face of
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the rocks, clinging to small projections and the tough creepers that had found root
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hold here and there. The labyrinthodon evidently thought the jaw was coming to double
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his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me
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to the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead, he merely trotted
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along behind me. As I approached the foot of the cliff, I saw
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what Jaw intended doing, but I doubted if the thing would prove successful.
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He had come down to within twenty feet of the bottom, and there,
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clinging with one hand to a small ledge and with his feet resting precariously upon
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tiny bushes that grew from the solid face of the rock, he lowered the
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point of his long spear until it hung some six feet above the ground.
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To clamber up that slim shaft without dragging Jaw down and precipitating both to the
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same doom from which the copper colored one was attempting to save me seemed utterly
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impossible, and as I came near the spear, I told Jaw so and
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that I could not risk him to try to save myself. But he insisted
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that he knew what he was doing and was in no danger himself. The
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danger is still yours, he called for, Unless you move much more rapidly
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than you are now. The Scythic will be upon you and drag you back
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before ever you are half way up the spear. He can rear up and
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reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand. Well, Jos should know
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his own business, I thought, and so I grasped the spear and clambered
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up toward the red Man as rapidly as I could, being so far removed
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from my Simian ancestors as I am, I imagine, the slow witted Scythic,
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as Jo called him, suddenly realized our intentions, and that he was
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quite likely to lose all his meal instead of having it doubled as he had
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hoped. When he saw me clambering up that spear, he led out a
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hiss that fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific
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rate. I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or
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almost another six inches would give me a hold on Jo's hand, when I
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felt a sudden wrench from below, and glancing fearful down, saw the mighty
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jaws of the monster close on the sharp point of the weapon. I made
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a frantic effort to reach Jaw's hand. The scythec gave a tremendous tug that
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came near to jerking Jaw from his frail hold on the surface of the rock.
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The spear slipped from his fingers, and still clinging to it, I
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plunged feet foremost towards my executioner. At the instant that he felt the spear
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come away from Jaw's hand, the creature must have opened his huge jaws to
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catch me, for when I came down, still clinging to the butt end
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of the weapon, the point yet rested in his mouth, and the result
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was that the sharpened end transfixed his lower jaw. With the pain he snapped
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his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, lost my hold upon the
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spear, rolled the length of his face and head, across his short neck,
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on to his broad back, and from there to the ground. Scarce
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had I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing madly for
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the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A glance over my
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shoulders showed me the scythic engaged and pawing at the spear stuck through his lower
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jaw. And so busily engaged did he remain in this occupation that I had
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gained the safety of the cliff top before he was ready to take up the
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pursuit. When he did not discover me in sight within the valley, he
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dashed, kissing into the rank vegetation of the swamp, and that was the
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last I saw of him. End of chapter nine.