 CHAPTER VII. FREEDOM. Once out of the direct path of the animal fear of it left me, but another emotion as quickly gripped me, hope of escape that the demoralized condition of the guards made possible for the instant. I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might better encompass his release if myself free, I should have put the thought of freedom from me at once. As it was, I hastened on toward the right searching for an exit toward which no seagoths were fleeing, and at last I found it, a low narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor, without thought of the possible consequence I darted into the shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along through the gloom for some distance. The noises of the amphitheater had grown fainter and fainter, until now all was as silent as the tomb about me. Faint light filtered from above through occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but it was scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope with the darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care, feeling my way along step by step, with a hand upon the wall beside me. Presently the light increased, and a moment later, to my delight, I came upon a flight of step leading upward, at the top of which the brilliant light of the noonday sun shone through an opening in the ground. Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end, and peering out saw the broad plain of Futura before me. The numerous lofty granite towers which marked the several entrances to the subterranean city were all in front of me. Behind the plain stretched level and unbroken to the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface, then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemed much enhanced. My first impulse was to await darkness before attempting to cross the plain, so deeply implanted are habits of thought, but of a sudden I recollected the perpetual noonday brilliance which envelops Palucidar, and with a smile I stepped forth into the daylight. Ranked grass, waist-high, grows upon the plain of Futura. The gorgeous flowering grass of the inner world, each particular blade of which is tipped with a tiny five-pointed blossom, brilliant little stars of varying colors that twinkle in the green foliage, to add still another charm to the weird yet lovely landscape. But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distant hills in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on, trampling the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet. Perry says that the force of gravity is less upon the surface of the inner world than upon that of the outer. He explained it all to me once, but I was never particularly brilliant in such matters, and so most of it has escaped me. As I recall it, the difference is due in some part to the counter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crust directly opposite the spot upon the face of Palucidar at which one's calculations are being made. Be that as it may, it always seemed to me that I moved with greater speed and agility within Palucidar than upon the outer surface. There was a certain airy lightness of step that was most pleasing, and a feeling of bodily detachment which I can only compare with that occasionally experienced in dreams. And as I crossed Futra's flower-bespangled plane that time I seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensation was due to Perry's suggestion, and how much to actuality I am sure I do not know. The more I thought of Perry the less pleasure I took in my newfound freedom. There could be no liberty for me within Palucidar unless the old man shared it with me, and only the hope that I might find some way to encompass his release kept me from turning back to Futra. Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine, but I hoped that some fortuitous circumstance might solve the problem for me. It was quite evident, however, that little less than a miracle could aid me for what could I accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed. It was even doubtful that I could retrace my steps to Futra should I once pass beyond view of the plane, and even were that possible what aid could I bring to Perry no matter how far I wandered. The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it, yet with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead toward the foothills. Behind me no sign of pursuit developed. Before me I saw no living thing. It was as though I moved through a dead and forgotten world. I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reach the limit of the plane, but at last I entered the foothills, following a pretty little canyon upward toward the mountains. Beside me frolicked a laughing brooklet hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea. In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four or five pound weight, I should imagine, in appearance except as to size and color, they were not unlike the whale of our own seas. As I watched them playing about I discovered not only that they suckled their young, but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breathe as well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above the waterline. It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity I craved to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans, that is what Perry calls them, and make as good a meal as one can on raw warm-blooded fish, but had become rather used by this time to the eating of food in its natural state, though I still balked on the eyes and entrails, much to the amusement of Gack, to whom I always passed these delicacies. Crouching beside the brook I waited until one of the diminutive purple whales rose to nibble at the long grasses which overhung the water, and then, like the beast of prey that man really is, I sprang upon my victim appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled to escape. Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my hands and face continued my flight. Above the source of the brook I encountered a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge. Beyond was a steep declivity to the shore of a placid inland sea, upon the quiet surface of which lay several beautiful islands. The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beast was to be seen that might threaten my newfound liberty, I slid over the edge of the bluff, and half-sliding, half-falling, dropped into the delightful valley, the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peace and security. The gently sloping beach, along which I walked, was thickly strewn with strangely shaped colored shells, some empty, others still housing as varied a multitude of mollusks as ever might have drawn out their sluggish lives upon the silent shores of the anti-Diluvian seas of the outer crust. As I walked I could not but compare myself with the first man of that other world, so complete the solitude which surrounded me, so primal and untouched the virgin wonders and beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a second atom, wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world, searching for my eve, and at the thought there rose before my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfect face, surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous raven hair. As I walked my eyes were bent upon the beach, so that it was not until I had come quite upon it that I discovered that which shattered all my beautiful dream of solitude and safety and peace and primal overlordship. The thing was a hallowed log drawn upon the sands, and in the bottom of it lay a crude paddle. The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might prove some new form of danger was still upon me when I heard a rattling blue stones from the direction of the bluff, and turning my eyes in that direction I beheld the author of the disturbance. A great copper-colored man running rapidly toward me. There was that in the haste with which he came, which seemed quite sufficiently menacing, so that I did not need the added evidence of brandishing spear and scowling face to warn me that I was in no safe position. But wither to flee was indeed a momentous question. The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibility of escaping him upon the open beach. There was but a single alternative, the rude skiff, and with a celerity which equalled his I pushed the thing into the sea, and as it floated gave a final shove, and clamoured in over the end. A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft, and an instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazed my shoulder and buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond. Then I grasped the paddle, and with feverish haste urged the awkward wobbly thing out upon the surface of the sea. A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-coloured one had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidly in pursuit. His mighty strokes bade fair to close up the distance between us in short order, for at best I could make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft, which knows stubbornly in every direction but that which I desired to follow, so that fully half my energy was expended in turning its blunt prow back into the course. I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it became evident that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiff within the next half dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair I bent to the grandfather of all paddles in a hopeless effort to escape, and still the copper giant behind me gained and gained. His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek, sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man saw it too, and the look of terror that overspread his face assured me that I need have no further concern as to him, for the fear of certain death was in his look. And then about him coiled the great slimy folds of a hideous monster of that prehistoric deep, a mighty serpent of the sea, with fang jaws and darting forked tongue, with bulging eyes and bony protuberances upon head and snout that formed short stout horns. As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes met those of the doomed man, and I could have sworn that in his I saw an expression of hopeless appeal. But whether I did or not there swept through me a sudden compassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother man, and that he might have killed me with pleasure had he caught me was forgotten in the extremity of his danger. Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent rose to engage my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted close beside the two. The monster seemed to be but playing with his victim before he closed his awful jaws upon him and dragged him down to his dark den beneath the surface to devour him. The huge snake-like body coiled and uncoiled about its prey, the hideous gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face. The forked tongue lightning-like ran in and out upon the copper skin. Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with his stone hatchet against the bony armor that covered the frightful carcass. But for all the damage he inflicted he might as well have struck with his open palm. At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by while a fellow man was dragged down to a horrible death by that repulsive reptile. Embedded in the prow of the skiff lay the spear that had been cast after me by him who I suddenly desired to save. With a wrench I tore it loose, and standing upright in the wobbly log drove it with all the strength of my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of the hydrophidian, with a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey to turn upon me. But the spear embedded in its throat prevented it from seizing me, though it came near to overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to reach me. CHAPTER VIII. THE MEHAR TEMPLE. The aborigine, apparently uninjured, climbed quickly into the skiff, and seizing the spear with me helped to hold off the infuriated creature. Blood from the wounded reptile was now crimsoning the waters about us, and soon from the weakening struggles it became evident that I had inflicted a death wound upon it. Presently its efforts to reach us ceased entirely, and with a few convulsive movements it turned upon its back quite dead. And then there came to me a sudden realization of the predicament in which I had placed myself. I was entirely within the power of the savage man whose skiff I had stolen. Still clinging to the spear I looked into his face to find him scrutinizing me intently, and there we stood for some several minutes, each clinging tenaciously to the weapon while we gazed in stupid wonderment at each other. What was in his mind I do not know, but in my own was merely the question as to how soon the fellow would recommence hostilities. Presently he spoke to me, but in a tongue which I was unable to translate. I shook my head in an effort to indicate my ignorance of his language, at the same time addressing him in the bastard tongue that the seagoths used to converse with the human slaves of the Mahars. To my delight he understood and answered me in the same jargon. What do you want of my spear? he asked. Only to keep you from running it through me I replied. I would not do that, he said, for you have just saved my life. And with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in the bottom of the skiff. Who are you? he continued. And from what country do you come? I too sat down laying the spear between us and tried to explain how I came to Pellucidar and wherefrom, but it was as impossible for him to grasp or believe the strange tale I told him, as I fear it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in the existence of the inner world. To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine that there was another world far beneath his feet, peopled by beings similar to himself, and he laughed up roriously the more he thought upon it. But it was ever thus. That which has never come within the scope of our really pitifully meager world experience cannot be. Our finite minds cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance with the conditions which obtain about us upon the outside of the insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny way among the boulders of the universe. The speck of moist dirt we so proudly call the world. So I gave it up, and asked him about himself. He said he was a meezop, and that his name was Jha. Who are the meezops, I asked? Where do they live? He looked at me in surprise. I might indeed believe that you were from another world, he said, for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant? The meezops live upon the islands of the seas. Insofar as I have ever heard no meezop lives elsewhere, and no others than meezops dwell upon the islands. But of course it may be different in other far-distant lands. I do not know. At any rate, in this sea, and those nearby, it is true that only people of my race inhabit the islands. We are fishermen, though we be great hunters as well, often going to the mainland in search of the game that is scarce upon all but the larger islands. And we are warriors also, he added proudly. Even the seagoths of the Meihars fear us. Once when Pellucidar was young, the seagoths were one to capture us for slaves as they do the other men of Pellucidar. It is handed down from father to son among us that this is so. But we fought so desperately and slew so many seagoths, and those of us that were captured killed so many Meihars in their own cities that at last they learned that it were better to leave us alone. And later came the time that the Meihars became too indolent, even to catch their own fish except for amusement. And then they needed us to supply their wants, and so a truce was made between the races. Now they give us certain things which we are unable to produce in return for the fish that we catch. And the meezops and the Meihars live in peace. The great ones even come to our islands. It is there, far from the prying eyes of their own seagoths, that they practice their religious rites in the temples they have builded there with our assistance. If you live among us you will doubtless see the manner of their worship, which is strange indeed, and most unpleasant for the poor slaves they bring to take part in it. As Ja talked, I had an excellent opportunity to inspect him more closely. He was a huge fellow standing, I should say, six feet six or seven inches, well developed, and of a coppery red not unlike that of our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher tribes, the prominent cheekbones and black hair and eyes, but his mouth and lips were better molded. All in all Ja was an impressive and handsome creature. And he talked well too. Even in the miserable makeshift language we were compelled to use. During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his crude and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it had been so short a time before that I had made such pitiful work of it. As we touched the pretty level beach, Ja leaped out and I followed him. Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that grew beyond the sand. We must hide our canoes, explained Ja. For the mizaps of Luanna are always at war with us, and would steal them if they found them. He nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a distance that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer earthly. To see land and water curving upward in the distance until it seemed to stand on edge where it melted into the distant sky, and to feel that seas and mountains hung suspended directly above one's head, required such a complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning faculties as almost to stupefy one. No sooner had we hidden the canoe than Ja plunged into the jungle, presently emerging into a narrow but well-defined trail which wound hither and thither much after the manner of the highways of all primitive folk. But there was one peculiarity about this mizap trail which I was later defined distinguished them from all other trails that I have ever seen within or without the earth. It would run on plain and clear and well-defined to end suddenly in the midst of a tangle of matted jungle. Then Ja would turn directly back in his tracks for a little distance, spring into a tree, climb through it to the other side, drop onto a fallen log, leap over a low bush, and alight once more upon a distinct trail which he would follow back for a short distance only to turn directly about in retraces steps until after a mile or less this new pathway ended as suddenly and mysteriously as the former section. Then he would pass again across some media which would reveal no spore to take up the broken thread of the trail beyond. As the purpose of this remarkable avenue dawned upon me I could not but admire the native shrewdness of the ancient progenitor of the mizaps who hid upon this novel plan to throw his enemies from his track and delay or thwart them in their attempts to follow him to his deep-buried cities. To you of the outer earth it might seem a slow and tortuous method of traveling through the jungle, but were you of Pellucidar you would realize that time is no factor where time does not exist. So labyrinthine are the windings of these trails, so varied the connecting links and the distances which one must retrace one steps from the paths ends to find them, that a mizap often reaches man's estate before he is familiar even with those which lead from his own city to the sea. In fact, three-fourths of the education of the young male mizap consists in familiarizing himself with these jungle avenues, and the status of an adult is largely determined by the number of trails which he can follow upon his own island. The females never learn them since from birth to death they never leave the clearing in which the village of their nativity is situated, except that they be taken to mate by a male from another village, or captured in war by the enemies of their tribe. After proceeding through the jungle for what must have been upward of five miles we emerged suddenly into a large clearing in the exact center of which stood a strange and appearing village as one might well imagine. Large trees had been chopped down fifteen or twenty feet above the ground, and upon the tops of them spherical habitations of woven twigs, mud-covered, had been built. Each ball-like house was surmounted by some manner of carven image, which Ja told me indicated the identity of the owner. Horizontal slits, six inches high and two or three feet wide, served to admit light and ventilation. The entrances to the house were through small apertures in the bases of the trees and thence upward by rude ladders through the hollow trunks to the rooms above. The houses varied in size from two to several rooms. The largest that I entered was divided into two floors and eight apartments. All about the village, between it and the jungle, lay beautifully cultivated fields in which the mizaps raised such cereals, fruits, and vegetables as they required. Women and children were working in these gardens as we crossed toward the village. At sight of Ja they saluted deferentially, but to me they paid not the slightest attention. Among them and about the outer verge of the cultivated area were many warriors. These two saluted Ja by touching the points of their spears to the ground directly before them. Ja conducted me to a large house in the center of the village, the house with eight rooms, and taking me up into it gave me food and drink. There I met his mate, a comely girl with a nursing baby in her arms. Ja told her of how I had saved his life, and she was thereafter most kind and hospitable toward me, even permitting me to hold and amuse the tiny bundle of humanity whom Ja told me would one day rule the tribe, for Ja it seemed was the chief of the community. We had eaten and rested, and I had slept, much to Ja's amusement, for it seemed that he seldom if ever did so, and then the red man proposed that I accompany him to the temple of the mayhars which lay not far from his village. We are not supposed to visit it, he said, but the great ones cannot hear, and if we keep well out of sight they need never know that we have been there, for my part I hate them, and always have. But the other chieftains of the island think it best that we continue to maintain the amicable relations which exist between the two races. Otherwise I should like nothing better than to lead my warriors amongst the hideous creatures and exterminate them. Pellucidar would be a better place to live were there none of them. I wholly concurred in Ja's belief, but it seemed that it might be a difficult matter to exterminate the dominant race of Pellucidar. Thus conversing we followed the intricate trail toward the temple, which we came upon in a small clearing surrounded by enormous trees similar to those which must have flourished upon the outer crust during the Carboniferous Age. Here was a mighty temple of Hewn Rock built in the shape of a rough oval with rounded roof in which were several large openings. No doors or windows were visible in the sides of the structure, nor was there in need of any, except one entrance for the slaves, since, as Ja explained, the Meihars flew to and from their place of ceremonial, entering and leaving the buildings by means of the apertures in the roof. But, at a Ja, there is an entrance near the base of which even the Meihars know nothing. Come! And he led me across the clearing and about the end to a pile of loose rock which lay against the foot of the wall. Here he removed a couple of large boulders revealing a small opening which led straight within the building, or so it seemed. Though as I entered after Ja I discovered myself in a narrow place of extreme darkness. We are within the outer wall, said Ja. It is hollow. Follow me closely. The red man groped ahead a few paces and then began to ascend a primitive ladder similar to that which leads from the ground to the upper stories of his house. We ascended for some forty feet, when the interior of the space between the walls commenced to grow lighter, and presently we came opposite an opening in the inner wall which gave us an unobstructed view of the entire interior of the temple. The lower floor was an enormous tank of clear water in which numerous hideous Meihars swam lazily up and down. Artificial islands of granite rock dotted this artificial sea, and upon several of them I saw men and women like myself. What are the human beings doing here? I asked. Wait, and you shall see, replied Ja. They are to take part in the ceremonies which will follow the advent of the queen. You may be thankful that you are not upon the same side of the wall as they. Scarcely had he spoken, then we heard a great fluttering of wings above, and a moment later a long procession of the frightful reptiles of Pellucidar winged slowly and majestically through the large central opening in the roof, and circled in stately manner about the temple. There were several Meihars first, and then at least twenty awe-inspiring pterodactyls, thip-dars they are called within Pellucidar. Behind these came the queen, flanked by other thip-dars, as she had been when she entered the amphitheater at Futra. Three times they wheeled about the interior of the oval chamber, to settle finally upon the damp cold boulders that fringe the outer edge of the pool. In the center of one side the largest rock was reserved for the queen, and here she took her place surrounded by her terrible guard. All lay quiet for several minutes after settling to their places. One might have imagined them in silent prayer. The poor slaves upon the diminutive islands watched the horrid creatures with wide eyes. The men for the most parts stood erect and stately with folded arms, awaiting their doom. But the women and children clung to one another hiding behind the males. They are a noble-looking race, these cavemen of Pellucidar, and if our progenitors were as they, the human race of the outer crust has deteriorated rather than improved with the march of the ages. All they lack is opportunity. We have opportunity, and little else. Now the queen moved. She raised her ugly head, looking about. Then very slowly she crawled to the edge of her throne and slid noiselessly into the water. Up and down the long tank she swam. Turning at the ends as you have seen captive seals turn in their tiny tanks, turning upon their backs and diving below the surface. Nearer and nearer to the island she came until at last she remained at rest before the largest, which was directly opposite her throne. Raising her hideous head from the water she fixed her great round eyes upon the slaves. They were fat and sleek, for they had been brought from a distant Mahar city where human beings are kept in droves and bread and fattened as we breed and fatten beef cattle. The queen fixed her gaze upon a plump young maiden. Her victim tried to turn away, hiding her face in her hands and kneeling behind a woman. But the reptile with unblinking eyes stared on with such fixity that I could have sworn her vision penetrated the woman and the girl's arms to reach at last the very center of her brain. Slowly the reptile's head commenced to move to and throw, but the eyes never ceased to bore toward the frightened girl, and then the victim responded. She turned wide, fear-haunted eyes toward the Mahar queen. Slowly she rose to her feet, and then as though dragged by some unseen power she moved as one in a trance straight toward the reptile, her glassy eyes fixed upon those of her captor. To the water's edge she came, nor did she even pause, but stepped into the shallows beside the little island. On she moved toward the Mahar, who now slowly retreated as though leading her victim on. The water rose to the girl's knees, and still she advanced, chained by that clammy eye. Now the water was at her waist, now her armpits. Her fellows upon the island looked on in horror, helpless to avert her doom in which they saw a forecast of their own. The Mahar sank now till only the long upper bill and eyes were exposed above the surface of the water, and the girl had advanced until the end of that repulsive beak was but an inch or two from her face. Her horror-filled eyes riveted upon those of the reptile. Now the water passed above the girl's mouth and nose, her eyes and forehead all that showed. Yet she still walked on after the retreating Mahar. The queen's head slowly disappeared beneath the surface, and after it went the eyes of her victim only a slow ripple widened toward the shores to mark where the two vanished. For a time all was silence within the temple. The slaves were motionless in terror. The Mahars watched the surface of the water for the reappearance of their queen, and presently at one end of the tank her head rose slowly into view. She was backing toward the surface, her eyes fixed before her as they had been when she dragged the helpless girl to her doom. And then to my utter amazement I saw the forehead and eyes of the maiden come slowly out of the depths, following the gaze of the reptile just as when she had disappeared beneath the surface. On and on came the girl until she stood in water that reached barely to her knees, and though she had been beneath the surface sufficient time to have drowned her thrice over, there was no indication other than her dripping hair and glistening body that she had been submerged at all. Again and again the queen led the girl into the depths and out again, until the uncanny weirdness of the thing got on my nerves so that I could have leaped into the tank till the child's rescue had I not taken a firm hold of myself. Once they were below the surface much longer than usual, and when they came to the surface I was horrified to see that one of the girl's arms was gone. Nod completely off at the shoulder, but the poor thing gave no indication of realizing pain, only the horror in her set eyes seemed intensified. The next time they appeared the other arm was gone, and then the breasts and then a part of the face. It was awful. The poor creatures on the islands awaiting their fate tried to cover their eyes with their hands to hide the fearful sight, but now I saw that they too were under the hypnotic spell of the reptiles, so that they could only crouch in terror with their eyes fixed upon the terrible thing that was transpiring before them. Finally the queen was under much longer than ever before, and when she arose she came alone, and swam sleepily toward her boulder. The moment she mounted it seemed to be a signal for the other mayhars to enter the tank, and then commenced upon a larger scale a repetition of the uncanny performance through which the queen had let her victim. Only the women and children felt prey to the mayhars, they being the weakest and most tender, and when they had satisfied their appetite for human flesh some of them devouring two or three of the slaves. There were only a score of full grown men left, and I thought that for some reason these were to be spared, but such was far from the case. For as the last mayhars crawled to her rock the queen's tip-dars darted into the air, circled the temple once, and then hissing like steam engines swooped down upon the remaining slaves. There was no hypnotism here, just the plain brutal ferocity of the beast of prey, tearing, rending, and gulping its meat, but at that it was less horrible than the uncanny method of the mayhars. By the time the tip-dars had disposed of the last of the slaves the mayhars were all asleep upon their rocks, and a moment later the great pterodactyls swung back to their posts beside the queen, and themselves dropped into slumber. I thought the mayhars seldom if ever slept, I said to Ja. They do many things in this temple which they do not do elsewhere, he replied. The mayhars of Futra are not supposed to eat human flesh, yet slaves are brought here by the thousands, and almost always you will find mayhars on hand to consume them. I imagine that they do not bring their seggoths here, because they are ashamed of the practice, which is supposed to obtain only among the least advanced of their race, but I would wager my canoe against a broken paddle that there is no mayhar but eats human flesh whenever she can get it. Why should they object to eating human flesh, I asked if it is true that they look upon us as lower animals. It is not because they consider us their equals that they are supposed to look with adorance upon those who eat our flesh, replied Ja. It is merely that we are warm-blooded animals. They would not think of eating the meat of a thag, which we consider such a delicacy, any more than I would think of eating a snake. As a matter of fact it is difficult to explain just why this sentiment should exist among them. I wonder if they left a single victim, I remarked, leaning far out of the opening in the rocky wall, to inspect the temple better. Directly below me the water lapped to the very side of the wall, there being a break in the boulders at this point, as there was at several other places about the side of the temple. My hands were resting upon a small piece of granite which formed part of the wall, and all my weight upon it proved too much for it. It slipped and I lunged forward. There was nothing to save myself and I plunged head foremost into the water below. Fortunately the tank was deep at this point, and I suffered no injury from the fall. But as I was rising to the surface my mind filled with the horrors of my position as I thought of the terrible doom which awaited me, the moment the eyes of the reptiles fell upon the creature that had disturbed their slumber. As long as I could I remained beneath the surface, swimming rapidly in the direction of the islands that I might prolong my life to the utmost. At last I was forced to rise for air, and as I cast a terrified glance in the direction of the mayhars and the thip-dars, I was almost stunned to see that not a single one remained upon the rocks where I had last seen them, nor as I searched the temple with my eyes could I discern any within it. For a moment I was puzzled to account for the thing until I realized that the reptiles, being deaf, could not have been disturbed by the noise my body made when it hit the water, and that as there is no such thing as time within Pellucidar there was no telling how long I had been beneath the surface. It was a difficult thing to attempt to figure out by earthly standards, this matter of elapsed time, but when I set myself to it I began to realize that I might have been submerged a second, or a month, or not at all. You have no conception of the strange contradictions and impossibilities which arise when all methods of measuring time as we know them upon the earth are nonexistent. I was about to congratulate myself upon the miracle which had saved me for the moment, when the memory of the hypnotic powers of the Meihars filled me with apprehension, lest they be practising their uncanny art upon me to the end that I merely imagined that I was alone in the temple. At the thought cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore, and as I crawled from the water onto one of the tiny islands I was trembling like a leaf. You cannot imagine the awful horror which even the simple thought of the repulsive Meihars of Pellucidar induces in the human mind, and to feel that you are in their power, that they are crawling slimy abhorrent to drag you down beneath the waters and devour you. It is frightful. But they did not come, and at last I came to the conclusion that I was indeed alone within the temple. How long I should be alone was the next question to assail me as I swam frantically about once more in search of a means to escape. Several times I called to jaw, but he must have left after I tumbled into the tank, for I received no response to my cries. Doubtless he had felt as certain of my doom when he saw me topple from our hiding-place as I had, and lest he too should be discovered, had hastened from the temple and back to his village. I knew that there must be some entrance to the building beside the doorways in the roof, for it did not seem reasonable to believe that the thousands of slaves which were brought here to feed the Meihars, the human flesh they craved, would all be carried through the air. And so I continued my search until at last it was rewarded by the discovery of several loose granite blocks in the masonry at one end of the temple. A little effort proved sufficient to dislodge enough of these stones to permit me to crawl through into the clearing, and a moment later I had scurried across the intervening space to the dense jungle beyond. Here I sank, panting and trembling upon the matted grasses beneath the giant trees, for I felt that I had escaped from the grinning fangs of death out of the depths of my own grave. Whatever dangers lay in this island jungle there could be none so fearsome as those which I had just escaped. I knew that I could meet death bravely enough if it came in the form of some familiar beast or man. Anything other than the hideous and uncanny Meihars. CHAPTER IX. THE FACE OF DEATH. I most have fallen asleep from exhaustion. When I awoke I was very hungry, and after busying myself searching for fruit for a while I set off through the jungle to find the beach. I knew that the island was not so large, but that I could easily find the sea if I did but move in a straight line. But there came the difficulty as there was no way in which I could direct my course and hold it, the sun of course being always directly above my head, and the trees so thickly set that I could see no distant object which might serve to guide me in a straight line. As it was I must have walked for a great distance since I ate four times and slept twice before I reached the sea, but at last I did so, and my pleasure at the sight of it was greatly enhanced by the chance discovery of a hidden canoe among the bushes, through which I had stumbled just prior to coming upon the beach. I can tell you that it did not take me long to pull that awkward craft down to the water and shove it far out from shore. My experience with jaw had taught me that if I were to steal another canoe I must be quick about it and get far beyond the owner's reach as soon as possible. I must have come out upon the opposite side of the island from that at which jaw and I had entered it, for the mainland was nowhere in sight. For a long time I paddled around the shore, though well out, before I saw the mainland in the distance. At the sight of it I lost no time in directing my course toward it, for I had long since made up my mind to return to Futra and give myself up, that I might be once more with Perry and Gack the hairy one. I felt that I was a fool ever to have attempted to escape alone, especially in view of the fact that our plans were already well formulated to make a break for freedom together. Of course I realized that the chances of the success of our proposed venture were slim indeed, but I knew that I never could enjoy freedom without Perry so long as the old man lived, and I had learned that the probability that I might find him was less than slight. Had Perry been dead I should gladly have pitted my strength and wit against the savage and primordial world in which I found myself. I could have lived in seclusion within some rocky cave until I had found the means to outfit myself with the crude weapons of the Stone Age, and then set out in search of her whose image had now become the constant companion of my waking hours and the central and beloved figure of my dreams. But to the best of my knowledge Perry still lived, and it was my duty and wish to be again with him that we might share the dangers and vicissitudes of this strange world we had discovered. And Gack, too, the great shaggy man had found a place in the hearts of us both, for he was indeed every inch a man and king—uncooth perhaps and brutal, too, if judged too harshly by the standards of a feet-twentieth century civilization, but with all noble, dignified, chivalrous, and lovable. Chance carried me to the very beach upon which I had discovered Jaws' canoe, and a short time later I was scrambling up the steep bank to retrace my steps from the plain of Futra. But my troubles came when I entered the canyon beyond the summit. Over here I found that several of them centered at the point where I crossed the divide, and which one I had traversed to reach the pass I could not for the life of me remember. It was all a matter of chance, and so I set off down that which seemed the easiest going, and in this I made the same mistake that many of us do in selecting the path along which we shall follow out the course of our lives, and again learned that it is not always best to follow the line of least resistance. By the time I had eaten eight meals and slept twice I was convinced that I was upon the wrong trail, for between Futra and the inland sea I had not slept at all, and had eaten but once. To retrace my steps to the summit of the divide and explore another canyon seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and loveliness of the canyon, just before me, seemed to suggest that it was about to open into a level country, and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I decided to proceed but a short distance farther before I turned back. The next turn of the canyon brought me to its mouth, and before me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the side of the canyon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying to my left, and the foot of it running gradually into the sea where it formed a broad, level beach. Perhaps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there, almost to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly before me it seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip along which the restless waters advanced and retreated. Curiosity prompted me to walk down to the beach, for the scene was very beautiful. As I passed along beside the deep and tangled vegetation of the swamp I thought that I saw a movement of the ferns at my left, but though I stopped a moment to look it was not repeated, and if anything lay hid there my eyes could not penetrate the dense foliage to discern it. Presently I stood upon the beach, looking out over that wide and lonely sea across whose forbidding bosom no human being had yet ventured to discover what strange and mysterious lands lay beyond, or what its invisible islands held of riches, wonders, or adventure, what savage faces, what fierce and formidable beasts were this very instant watching the lapping of the waves upon its farther shore. How far did it extend? Perry had told me that the seas of Pellucidar were small in comparison with those of the Outer Crust, but even so this great ocean might stretch its broad expanse for thousands of miles. For countless ages it had rolled up and down its countless miles of shore, and yet today it remained all unknown beyond the tiny strip that was visible from its beaches. The fascination of speculation was strong upon me. It was as though I had been carried back to the birth-time of our own outer world to look upon its lands and seas, ages before man had traversed either. Here was a new world, all untouched. It called to me to explore it. I was dreaming of the excitement and adventure which lay before us could Perry and I but escape the mayhars when something, a slight noise, I imagine, drew my attention behind me as I turned, romance, adventure, and discovery, in the abstract, took wing before the terrible embodiment of all three in concrete form that I beheld advancing upon me. A huge, slimy amphibian it was, with a toad-like body and the mighty jaws of an alligator. Its immense carcass must have weighed tons, and yet it moved swiftly and silently toward me. Upon one hand was the bluff that ran from the canyon to the sea, on the other the fearsome swamp from which the creature had sneaked upon me. Behind lay the mighty untracked sea, and before me in the center of the narrow way that led to safety, stood this huge mountain of terrible and menacing flesh. A single glance at the thing was sufficient to assure me that I was facing one of those long-extinct, prehistoric creatures whose fossilized remains are found within the outer crust as far back as the triassic formation. A gigantic labyrinthadon. And there I was, unarmed and with the exception of a loincloth as naked as I had come into the world. I could imagine how my first ancestor felt that distant prehistoric mourn that he encountered for the first time the terrifying progenitor of the thing that had me cornered now beside the restless mysterious sea. Unquestionably he had survived, or I should not have been within Pellucidar or elsewhere, and I wished at that moment that he had handed down to me with the various attributes that I presumed I have inherited from him, the specific application of the instinct of self-preservation which saved him from the fate which loomed so close before me to-day. To seek escape in the swamp or in the ocean would have been similar to jumping into a den of lions who escaped one upon the outside. The sea and swamp both were doubtless alive with these mighty carnivorous amphibians, and if not the individual that menaced me would pursue me into either the sea or swamp with equal facility. There seemed nothing to do but stand supinely and await my end. I thought of Perry how he would wonder what had become of me. I thought of my friends of the outer world and of how they all would go on living their lives in total ignorance of the strange and terrible fate that had overtaken me, or unguessing the weird surroundings which had witnessed the last frightful agony of my extinction, and with these thoughts came a realization of how unimportant to the life and happiness of the world is the existence of any one of us. We may be snuffed out without an instance warning, and for a brief day our friends speak of us with subdued voices. The following morning, while the first worm is busily engaged in testing the construction of our coffin, they are teeing up for the first hole to suffer more acute sorrow over a sliced ball than they did over our, to us, untimely demise. The Labyrinthodon was coming more slowly now. He seemed to realize that escape for me was impossible, and I could have sworn that his huge, fanged jaws grinned in pleasurable appreciation of my predicament, or was it an anticipation of the juicy morsel which would so soon be pulp between those formidable teeth. He was about fifty feet from me when I heard a voice calling to me from the direction of the bluff at my left. I looked and could have shouted in delight at the sight that met my eyes, for there stood jaw, waving frantically to me, and urging me to run for it to the cliff's base. I had no idea that I should escape the monster that had marked me for his breakfast, but at least I should not die alone. Human eyes would watch me end. It was cold comfort, I presume, but yet I derived some slight peace of mind from the contemplation of it. To run seemed ridiculous, especially toward that steep and unscalable cliff, and yet I did so, and as I ran I saw jaw, agile as a monkey, crawl down the precipitous face of the rocks, clinging to small projections and the tough creepers that had found root-hold here and there. The Labyrinthodon evidently thought that jaw was coming to double his portion of human flesh, so he was in no haste to pursue me to the cliff and frighten away this other tidbit. Instead he merely trotted along behind me. As I approached the foot of the cliff I saw what jaw intended doing, but I doubted if the thing would prove successful. He had come down to within twenty feet of the bottom and there clinging with one hand to a small ledge, and with his feet resting precariously upon tiny bushes that grew from the solid face of the rock, he lowered the point of his long spear until it hung some six feet above the ground. To clamor up that slim shaft without dragging jaw down and precipitating both to the same doom from which the copper-colored one was attempting to save me seemed utterly impossible, and as I came near the spear I told jaw so, and that I could not risk him to try to save myself. But he insisted that he knew what he was doing, and was in no danger himself. The danger is still yours, he called, for unless you move much more rapidly than you are now, the Sithic will be upon you and drag you back before ever you are halfway up the spear. He can rear up and reach you with ease anywhere below where I stand. Well, the jaw should know his own business, I thought, and so I grasped the spear and clamored up toward the red man as rapidly as I could, being so far removed from my simian ancestors as I am. I imagined the slow-witted Sithic, as jaw called him, suddenly realized our intentions, and that he was quite likely to lose all his meal instead of having it doubled as he had hoped. When he saw me clamoring up that spear he let out a hiss that fairly shook the ground, and came charging after me at a terrific rate. I had reached the top of the spear by this time, or almost, and other six inches would give me a hold on jaw's hand, when I felt a sudden wrench from below, and glancing fearfully down saw the mighty jaws of the monster close on the sharp point of the weapon. I made a frantic effort to reach jaw's hand. The Sithic gave a tremendous tug that came near to jerking jaw from his frail hold on the surface of the rock. The spear slipped from his fingers and still clinging to it I plunged feet foremost toward my executioner. At the instant that he felt the spear come away from jaw's hand, the creature must have opened his huge jaws to catch me. For when I came down, still clinging to the butt end of the weapon, the point yet rested in his mouth, and the result was that the sharpened end transfixed his lower jaw. With the pain he snapped his mouth closed. I fell upon his snout, lost my hold upon the spear, rolled the length of his face un-head, across his short neck onto his broad back and from there to the ground. Scarce that I touched the earth than I was upon my feet, dashing madly for the path by which I had entered this horrible valley. A glance over my shoulder showed me the Sithic engaged and pawing at the spear stuck through his lower jaw, and so busily engaged did he remain in this occupation, that I had gained the safety of the cliff-top before he was ready to take up the pursuit. When he did not discover me in sight within the valley he dashed, pissing into the rank vegetation of the swamp, and that was the last I saw of him. CHAPTER X FUTRA AGAIN I hastened to the cliff-edge above Jha and helped him to a secure footing. He would not listen to any thanks for his attempt to save me which had come so near miscarrying. I had given you up for lust when you tumbled into the Mayhor Temple, he said, for not even I could save you from their clutches, and you may imagine my surprise when on seeing a canoe dragged up upon the beach of the mainland I discovered your own footprints in the sand beside it. I immediately set out in search of you, knowing as I did that you must be entirely unarmed and defenseless against the many dangers which lurk upon the mainland, both in the form of savage beasts and reptiles, and men as well. I had no difficulty in tracking you to this point. It is well that I arrived when I did. But why did you do it? I asked, puzzled at this show of friendship on the part of a man of another world and a different race and color. You saved my life, he replied. From that moment it became my duty to protect and defend you. I would have been no true Misa had I evaded my plain duty, but it was a pleasure in this instance for I like you. I wish that you would come and live with me. You shall become a member of my tribe. Among us there is the best of hunting and fishing, and you shall have to choose a mate from the most beautiful girls of Pellucidar. Will you come? I told him about Perry then, and Diane the beautiful, and how my duty was to them first. Afterward I should return and visit him if I could ever find his island. Oh, that is easy, my friend, he said. You need merely to come to the foot of the highest peak of the mountains of the clouds. There you will find a river which flows into the lower Al-Az. Directly opposite the mouth of the river you will see three large islands far out, so far that they are barely discernible. The one to the extreme left as you face them from the mouth of the river is Anorok, where I rule the tribe of Anorok. But how am I to find the mountains of the clouds? I asked. Men say that they are visible from half Pellucidar, he replied. How large is Pellucidar? I asked, wondering what sort of theory these primitive men had concerning the form and substance of their world. The mayhars say it is round, like the inside of a tola-shell, he answered. But that is ridiculous, since were it true we should fold back were we to travel far in any direction, and all the waters of Pellucidar would run to one spot and drown us. No, Pellucidar is quite flat, and extends no man knows how far in all directions. At the edges so my ancestors have reported and handed down to me is a great wall that prevents the earth and waters from escaping over into the burning sea where our Pellucidar floats, but I never have been so far from Anorok as to have seen this wall with my own eyes. However, it is quite reasonable to believe that this is true, whereas there is no reason at all in the foolish belief of the mayhars. According to them, Pellucidarians who live upon the opposite side walk always with their heads pointed downward, and jaw left up roriously at the very thought. It was plain to see that the human folk of this inner world had not advanced far in learning, and the thought that the ugly mayhars had so outstripped them was a very pathetic one indeed. I wondered how many ages it would take to lift these people out of their ignorance even were it given to Perri and me to attempt it. Possibly we would be killed for our pains, as were those men of the outer world who dared challenge the dense ignorance and superstitions of the earth's younger days. But it was worth the effort if the opportunity ever presented itself. And then it occurred to me that here was an opportunity that I might make a small beginning upon jaw who was my friend and thus note the effect of my teaching upon a Pellucidarian. Jaw, I said, what would you say were I to tell you that in so far as the mayhars theory of the shape of Pellucidar is concerned it is correct? I would say, he replied, that either you are a fool or you took me for one. But jaw, I insisted. If their theory is incorrect, how do you account for the fact that I was able to pass through the earth from the outer crust to Pellucidar? If your theory is correct, all is a sea of flame beneath us wherein no peoples could exist, and yet I come from a great world that is covered with human beings and beasts and birds and fishes in mighty oceans. You live upon the underside of Pellucidar and walk always with your head pointed downward? He scoffed. And where I to believe that, my friend, I should indeed be mad. I attempted to explain the force of gravity to him and by the means of the dropped fruit to illustrate how impossible it would be for a body to fall off the earth under any circumstances. He listened so intently that I thought I had made an impression and started the train of thought that would lead him to a partial understanding of the truth. But I was mistaken. Your own illustration, he said, finally proves the falsity of your theory. He dropped a fruit from his hand to the ground. See, he said, without support even this tiny fruit falls until it strikes something that stops it. If Pellucidar were not supported upon the flaming sea it too would fall as the fruit falls. You have proven it yourself. He had me that time. You could see it in his eye. It seemed a hopeless job and I gave it up, temporarily at least, for when I contemplated the necessity explanation of our solar system and the universe I realized how futile it would be to attempt to picture, to jaw, or any other Pellucidarian, the sun, the moon, the planets, and the countless stars. Those born within the inner world could no more conceive of such things than can, we of the outer crust, reduce to factors appreciable to our finite minds such terms as space and eternity. Well, jaw, I laughed. Whether we be walking with our feet up or down, here we are. And the question of greatest importance is not so much where we came from as where we are going now. For my part I wish that you could guide me to Futra, where I may give myself up to the Meihars once more that my friends and I may work out the plan of escape which the Segats interrupted when they gathered us together and drove us to the arena to witness the punishment of the slaves who killed the guardsmen. I wish now that I had not left the arena for by this time my friends and I might have made good our escape, whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our plans which depended for their consummation upon the continued sleep of the three Meihars who lay in the pit beneath the building in which we were confined. You would return to captivity? cried Jaw. My friends are there, I replied. The only friends I have in Pellucidar accept yourself. What else may I do under the circumstances? He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head sorrowfully. It is what a brave man and a good friend should do, he said. Yet it seems most foolish, for the Meihars will certainly condemn you to death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing nothing for your friends by returning. Never in all my life have I heard of a prisoner returning to the Meihars of his own free will. There are but few who escape them, though some do, and these would rather die than be recaptured. I see no other way, Jaw, I said. Though I can assure you that I would rather go to Sheol after Perry than to go to Futra. However, Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all great that I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality. Jaw asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained as best I could, he said, You are speaking of Molap Az, the flaming sea upon which Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molap Az by the little demons who dwell there. We know this because when graves are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off. That is why we of Anorok place our dead in high trees where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit to the dead world above the land of awful shadow. If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it may go to Molap Az. As we talked we had been locking up the canyon down which I had come to the great ocean and the Scythic. Jaw did his best to dissuade me from returning to Futra, but when he saw that I was determined to do so he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see the plain where lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but short from the beach where I had again met Jaw. It was evident that I had spent much time following the windings of a tortuous canyon while just beyond the ridge lay the city of Futra near to which I must have come several times. As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the flowered plain at our feet Jaw made a final effort to persuade me to abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anorock, but I was firm in my resolve and at last he bid me goodbye, assured in his own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time. I was sorry to part with Jaw, for I had come to like him very much indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anorock as a base and his savage warriors as escort, Perry and I could have accomplished much in the line of exploration and I hoped that were we successful in our effort to escape we might return to Anorock later. There was however one great thing to be accomplished first. At least it was the great thing to me, the finding of Diane the beautiful. I wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my ignorance and I wanted to, well, I wanted to see her again and to be with her. Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers and then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns that guard the ways to buried Futra. At a quarter mile from the nearest entrance I was discovered by the Segoth Guard and in an instant four of the guerrilla men were dashing toward me. Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect upon them that I had hoped and as we came quite nearer together they ceased their savage shouting. It was evident that they had expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that which they most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast their spears. What do you do here? shouted one, and then as he recognized me, Oh, it is the slave who claims to be from another world, he who escaped when the Thag ran amok within the Empathéader, but why do you return having once made Goodyear escape? I did not escape, I replied, but I ran away to avoid the Thag, as did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused and lost my way in the foothills beyond Futra. Only now have I found my way back. And you come of your free will back to Futra! exclaimed one of the guardsmen. Where else might I go? I asked. I am a stranger within Pellucidar and know no other where than Futra. Why should I not desire to be in Futra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? What better lot could man desire? The Segoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters, whom they felt would be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return. For riddle they still considered it. I had spoken to the Segoths as I had for the purpose of throwing them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they thought that I was so satisfied with my lot within Futra that I would voluntarily return when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they would never for an instant imagine that I could be occupied in arranging another escape immediately upon my return to the city. So they led me before a slimy mayhar who clung to a slimy rock within a large room that was the thing's office. With cold reptilian eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my deceit and read my inmost thoughts. It heeded the story which the Segoths told of my return to Futra, watching the gorilla men's lips and fingers during a recital. Then it questioned me through one of the Segoths. You say that you return to Futra of your own free will. Because you think yourself better off here than elsewhere. Do you not know that you may be the next chosen to give up your life in the interests of the wonderful scientific investigations that our learned ones are continually occupied with? I hadn't heard anything of that nature, but I thought best not to admit it. I could be in no more danger here, I said, than naked and unarmed in the savage jungles or upon the lonely plains of Pellucidar. I was fortunate, I think, to return to Futra at all. As it was, I barely escaped death within the jaws of a huge Sithic. No, I am sure that I am safer in the hands of intelligent creatures such as Rul Futra. At least such would be the case in my own world, where human beings like myself rule supreme. There the higher races of Manics stand to protection and hospitality to the stranger within their gates, and being a stranger here I naturally assumed that a light courtesy would be accorded me. The mayhar looked at me in silence for some time after I ceased speaking, and the Segoth had translated my words to his master. The creature seemed deep in thought. Presently he communicated some message to the Segoth. The latter turned and motioning me to follow him left the presence of the reptile. Behind and on either side of me marched the balance of the guard. What are they going to do with me? I asked the fellow at my right. You are to appear before the learned ones who will question you regarding this strange world from which you say you come. After a moment's silence he turned to me again. Do you happen to know, he asked, what the mayhars do to slaves who lie to them? No, I replied, nor does it interest me, as I have no intention of lying to the mayhars. Then be careful that you don't repeat the impossible tale you told Sol Toto just now, another world indeed where human beings rule. He concluded and find scorn. But it is the truth, I insisted. From where else then did I come? I am not of Pellucidar. Anyone with half an eye could see that. It is your misfortune, then, he remarked dryly, that you may not be judged by one with but half an eye. What will they do to me, I asked, if they do not have a mind to believe me? You may be sentenced to the arena, or go to the pits to be used in research work by the learned ones, he replied. And what will they do to me there? I persisted. No one knows except the mayhars and those who go to the pits with them, but as the latter never returned their knowledge does them but little good. It is said that the learned ones cut up their subjects while they are yet alive, thus learning many useful things. However, I should not imagine that it would prove very useful to him who was being cut up. But, of course, this is all but conjecture. The chances are that, ere long, you will know much more about it than I. And he grinned as he spoke. The seagoths have a well-developed sense of humor. And suppose it is the arena I continued what then? You saw the two who met the tarig, and the thag the time that you escaped, he said. Yes, your end in the arena would be similar to what was intended for them, he explained. Though, of course, the same kinds of animals might not be employed. It is sure death in either event, I asked. What becomes of those who go below with the learned ones I do not know? Nor does any other, he replied. But those who go to the arena may come out alive and thus regain their liberty, as did the two whom you saw. They gain their liberty and how? It is the custom of the mayhars to liberate those who remain alive within the arena after the beasts depart or are killed. Thus, it has happened that several mighty warriors from far distant lands whom we have captured on our slave raids have battled the brutes turned in upon them and slain them, thereby winning their freedom. In the instance which you witnessed, the beasts killed each other, but the result was the same. The man and woman were liberated, furnished with weapons, and started on their homeward journey. On the left shoulder of each a mark was burned, the mark of the mayhars, which will forever protect these two from slaving parties. There is a slender chance for me, then, if I be sent to the arena and none at all if the learned ones drag me to the pits. You are quite right, he replied, but do not felicitate yourself too quickly, should you be sent to the arena. For there is scarce one in a thousand who comes out alive. To my surprise they returned me to the same building in which I had been confined with Perry and Gack before my escape. At the doorway I was turned over to the guards there. He would doubt this be called before the investigators shortly, said he who had brought me back, so have him in readiness. The guards in whose hands I now found myself upon hearing that I had returned of my own volition to Futra evidently felt that it would be safe to give me liberty within the building, as had been the custom before I had escaped, and so I was told to return to whatever duty had been mine formerly. My first act was to hunt up Perry, whom I found pouring as usual over the great tomes that he was supposed to be merely dusting and rearranging upon new shelves. As I entered the room he glanced up and nodded pleasantly to me, only to resume his work as though I had never been away at all. I was both astonished and hurt at his indifference, and to think that I was risking death to return to him purely from a sense of duty and affection. Why, Perry, I exclaimed, haven't you a word for me after my long absence? Long absence, he repeated in evident astonishment. What do you mean? Are you crazy, Perry? Do you mean to say that you have not missed me since that time we were separated by the charging thag within the arena? That time, he repeated. Why, man, I have just but returned from the arena. You reached here almost as soon as I. Had you been much later, I should indeed have been worried. And as it is, I had intended asking you about how you escaped the beast as soon as I had completed the translation of this most interesting passage. Perry, you are mad, I exclaimed. Why, the Lord only knows how long I have been away. I have been to other lands, discovered a new race of humans within Pellucidar, seen the mayhars at their worship in their hidden temple, and barely escaped with my life, from them and from great Labyrinthodon that I met afterward, following my long and tedious wanderings across an unknown world. I must have been away for months, Perry, and now you barely look up from your work when I return and insist that we have been separated but a moment. Is that any way to treat a friend? I am surprised at you, Perry, and if I had thought for a moment that you cared no more for me than this, I should not have returned to chance death at the hands of the mayhars for your sake. The old man looked at me for a long time before he spoke. There was a puzzle expression upon his wrinkled face, and a look of hurt sorrow in his eyes. David, my boy, he said, How could you for a moment doubt my love for you? There is something strange here that I cannot understand. I know that I am not mad, and I am equally sure that you are not, but how in the world are we to account for the strange hallucinations that each of us seems to harbor relative to the passage of time since we last saw each other? You were positive that months have gone by, while to me it seems equally certain that not more than an hour ago I sat beside you in the amphitheater. Can it be that both of us are right and, at the same time, both are wrong? First tell me what time it is, and then maybe I can solve our problem. Do you catch my meaning? I didn't, and said so. Yes, continued the old man, we are both right. To me bent over my book here there has been no lapse of time. I have done little or nothing to waste my energies, and so have required neither food nor sleep. But you, on the contrary, have walked and fought and wasted strength and tissue which must needs be rebuilt by nutriment and food. And so having eaten and slept many times, since last you saw me you naturally measure the lapse of time largely by these acts. As a matter of fact, David, I am rapidly coming to the conviction that there is no such thing as time. Surely there can be no time here within Pellucidar, where there are no means for measuring or recording time. Why the mayhars themselves take no account of such a thing as time. I find here in all their literary works but a single tense, the present. There seems to be neither past nor future with them. Of course it is impossible for our outer earthly minds to grasp such a condition, but our recent experiences seem to demonstrate its existence. It was too big a subject for me and I said so, but Perry seemed to enjoy nothing better than speculating upon it, and after listening with interest to my account of the adventures through which I had passed, he returned once more to the subject, which he was enlarging upon with considerable fluency when he was interrupted by the entrance of a seagoth. Come, commanded the intruder beckoning to me, the investigators would speak with you. Good-bye, Perry, I said, clasping the old man's hand. There may be nothing but the present and no such thing as time, but I feel that I am about to take a trip into the hereafter from which I shall never return. If you and Gack should manage to escape, I want you to promise me that you will find Diane the beautiful and tell her that with my last words I asked her forgiveness for the unintentional affront I put upon her and that my one wish was to be spared long enough to right the wrong that I had done Tears came to Perry's eyes. I cannot believe but that you will return, David. He said, it would be awful to think of living out the balance of my life without you among these hateful and repulsive creatures. If you are taken away, I shall never escape, for I feel that I am as well off here as I should be anywhere within this buried world. Good-bye, my boy. Good-bye. And then his old voice faltered and broke, and as he hid his face in his hands the seagoth guardsman grasped me roughly by the shoulder and hustled me from the chamber. CHAPTER 11 A MOMENT LATER I WAS STANDING BEFORE A DOZEN MEHARS THE SOCIAL INVESTIGATORS OF FUTRA. They asked me many questions through a seagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemed particularly interested in my account of the outer earth and the strange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. I thought that I had convinced them and after they had sat in silence for a long time following my examination I expected to be ordered returned to my quarters. During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium of strange unspoken language, the merits of my tale. At last the head of the tribunal communicated the result of their conference to the officer in charge of the seagoth guard. Come, he said to me, you are sentenced to the experimental pits for having dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with the ridiculous tale you have had the demerit to unfold to them. Do you mean that they do not believe me? I asked, totally astonished. Believe you, he laughed. Do you mean to say that you expected anyone to believe so impossible a lie? It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard down through the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At a low level we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw many mayhars engaged in various occupations. To one of these chambers my guard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a side wall. There were other humans similarly chained. Upon a long table lay a victim even as I was ushered into the room. Several mayhars stood about the poor creature holding him down so that he could not move. Another grasping a sharp knife with her three-toed forefoot was laying open the victim's chest and abdomen. No anesthetic had been administered, and the shrieks and groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear. This indeed was vivisection with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke out upon me as I realized that soon my turn would come, and to think that where there was no such thing as time I might easily imagine that my suffering was enduring for months before my death finally released me. The mayhars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had been brought into the room, so deeply immersed were they in their work, that I am sure they did not even know that the seaguffs had entered with me. The door was close by, wood that I could reach it, but those heavy chains precluded any such possibility. I looked about for some means of escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between me and the mayhars lay a tiny surgical instrument which one of them must have dropped. It looked not unlike a button-hook, but was much smaller, and its point was sharpened. A hundred times in my boyhood days I had picked locks with a button-hook. Could I but reach that little bit of polished steel I might yet effect at least a temporary escape. Crawling to the limit of my chain I found that by reaching one hand as far out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of the coveted instrument. It was tantalizing. Stretch every fiber of my being as I would I could not quite make it. At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. My heart came to my throat. I could just touch the thing. But suppose that in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally shove it still farther away and thus entirely out of reach. Cold sweat broke out upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I made the effort. My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually I worked it toward me until I felt that it was within reach of my hand, and a moment later I had turned about, and the precious thing was within my grasp. Assiduously I felt a work upon the mehar lock that held my chain. It was pitifully simple, a child might have picked it, and a moment later I was free. The mehars were now evidently completing their work at the table. One already turned away and was examining other victims, evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject. Those at the table had their backs toward me, but for the creature walking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the thing approached me when its attention was attracted by a huge slave chained a few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped, and commenced to go over the poor devil carefully, and as it did so its back turned toward me for an instant, and in that instant I gave two mighty leaps that carried me out of the chamber into the corridor beyond, down which I raced with all the speed I could command. Where I was, or whither I was going I knew not. My only thought was to place as much distance as possible between me and that frightful chamber of torture. Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing the danger of running into some new predicament where I not careful, I moved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to a passage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, and presently chancing to glance within a chamber which led from the corridor I saw three mehars curled up and slumber upon a bed of skins. I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the same corridor and the same mehars that I had intended to have lead so important a role in our escape from Futra. Providence had indeed been kind to me for the reptiles still slept. My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in search of parry and gack. But there was nothing else to be done. And so I hastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions of the building, I found a large burden of skins in a corner, and these I lifted to my head carrying them in such a way that ends and corners fell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. Just disguised I found parry and gack together in the chamber where we had been want to eat and sleep. Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though, of course, they had known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by my judges. It was decided that no time should now be lost before attempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hope to remain hidden from the sagoths long. Nor could I forever carry that bale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. However it seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely through the crowded passages and chambers of the upper levels. And so I set out with parry and gack, the stench of the illy-cured pelts fairly choking me. Together we were paired to the first tier of corridors beneath the main floor of the buildings, and here parry and gack halted to await me. The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. There is nothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The rooms are sometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again oval in shape. The corridors which connect them are narrow and not always straight. The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubes similar to those by which the avenues are lighted. The lower the tiers of chambers, the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted. The mayhars can see quite well in semi-darkness. Down to the main floor we encountered many mayhars, sagoths, and slaves. But no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of the domestic life of the building. There was but a single entrance leading from the place into the avenue, and this was well guarded by sagoths. This doorway alone where we forbidden to pass. It is true that we were not supposed to enter the deeper corridors and departments except on special occasions, when we were instructed to do so, but as we were considered a lower order without intelligence there was little reason to fear that we could accomplish any harm by so doing, and so we were not hindered as we entered the corridor which led below. Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords and the two bows and the arrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves bore skin-wrapped burdens, to and fro, my load attracted no comment. Where I left Gack and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and so I withdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance of the weapons with Perry started on alone toward the lower levels. Having come to the apartment in which the three mayhars slept I entered silently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were without the sense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart I disposed of the first, but my second thrust was not so fortunate so that before I could kill the next of my victims it had hurled itself against the third who sprang quickly up, facing me with wide distended jaws. But fighting is not the occupation which the race of mayhars loves, and when the things saw that I had already dispatched two of its companions and that my sword was red with their blood it made a dash to escape me. But I was too quick for it, and so half hopping, half flying it scurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels. Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability my instant death. This thought lent wings to my feet, but even at my best I could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing before me. I was sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor, and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of the mayhars. The one who had been there when we entered had been occupied with a number of metal vessels into which had been put powders and liquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing about upon the bench where it had been working. In an instant I realized what I had stumbled upon. It was the very room for the finding of which Perry had given me minute directions. It was the buried chamber in which was hidden the great secret of the race of mayhars, and on the bench beside the flasks lay the skinbound book which held the only copy of the thing I was to have sought after dispatching the three mayhars in their sleep. There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which I now stood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered I knew that they would fight like demons and that they were well equipped to fight if they must. Together they launched themselves upon me, and though I ran one of them through the heart on the instant the other fastened its gleaming fangs about my sword arm above the elbow, and then with her sharp talons commenced to rake me about the body evidently intent upon disemboweling me. I saw that it was useless to hope that I might release my arm from that powerful vise-like grip which seemed to be severing my arm from my body. The pain I suffered was intense, but it only served to spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist. Back and forth across the floor we struggled the mayhard dealing me terrific cutting blows with her forefeet while I attempted to protect my body with my left hand at the same time watching for an opportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand to its rapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful and with what seemed to be my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through the ugly body of my foe, soundless as it had fought. It died, and though weak from pain and loss of blood it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that I stepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up the most potent secret of a world. A single glance assured me that it was the very thing that Perry had described to me, and as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race of Pellucidar? Did their flash through my mind the thought that countless generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face gazing out of limpid eyes through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red-red lips God made for kissing, and of a sudden apropos of nothing standing there alone in the secret chamber of the Mayhars of Pellucidar. I realized that I loved Diane the beautiful. CHAPTER XII. OF AT THE EARTH'S CORP. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. CHAPTER XII. PURSUIT. For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then with a sigh I tucked the book in the thong that supported my loincloth and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor which leads aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance with the prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Gack that I had been successful. A moment later they stood beside me, and to my surprise I saw that Huja the sly one accompanied them. He joined us, explained Perry, and would not be denied. The fellow was a fox. He sensed escape, and rather than be thwarted, of our chance, now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let you decide whether he might accompany us. I had no love for Huja, and no confidence in him. I was sure that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us. But I saw no way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mayhars instead of only the three I had expected to made it possible to include the fellow in our scheme of escape. Very well, I said. You may come with us, Huja. But at the first intimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do you understand? He said that he did. Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mayhars and so succeeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed an excellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Futra. It was not an easy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split them along the belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by remaining out until the others had all been sewed in with my help and then leaving an aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through which he could pass his hands to sew me up, we were unable to accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep the heads erect by passing our swords up through the necks, and by the same means we were unable to move them about in a lifelike manner. We had our greatest difficulty with the webbed feet, but even that problem was finally solved so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were thrust, permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress. Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Gack headed the strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hujah, while I brought up the rear. After admonishing Hujah that I had so arranged my sword that I could thrust it through the head of my disguise into his vitals were he to show any indication of faltering. As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the busy corridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. It is with no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened, never before in my life nor since did I experience any such agony of soul-searing fear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible to sweat blood I sweat it then. Slowly after the manner of locomotion habitual to the mayhars, when they are not using their wings, we crept through the throngs of busy slaves, seagoths, and mayhars. After what seemed like an eternity we reached the outer door which leads into the main avenue of Futra. Many seagoths loitered near the opening, they glanced at Gack as he padded between them, then Perry passed, and then Hujah. Now it was my turn, and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized that the warm blood from my wounded arm was trickling down through the dead foot of the mayhars' skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement, for I saw a seagoth call a companion's attention to it. The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke to me in the sign language which these two races employ as a means of communication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not have replied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen a great mayhar freeze a presumptuous seagoth with a look. It seemed my only hope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my sword so that it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes upon the guerrilla man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, eyeing the fellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and started slowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but before I touched him the guard stepped to one side, and I passed on out into the avenue. On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the very numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately there was a great concourse of mayhars repairing to the shallow lake which lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulge their amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish and enjoying the cool depths of the water. It is a freshwater lake, shallow and free from the larger reptiles, which make the use of the great seas of Pellucidar impossible for any but their own kind. In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto the plain. For some distance Gack remained with the stream that was travelling toward the lake, but finally at the bottom of a little gully he halted, and there we remained until all had passed and we were alone. Then still in our disguises we set off directly away from Futra. The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide and entering a sheltering forest we finally discarded the mayhar skins that had brought us thus far in safety. I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and galling flight, how we travelled at a dogged run until we dropped in our tracks, how we were beset by strange and terrible beasts, how we barely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of which would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines of the outer world. On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance between ourselves and Futra as possible. Gack was leading us to his own land, the land of Sarri. No sign of pursuit had developed and yet we were sure that somewhere behind us, relentless, Sagoths were dogging our tracks. Gack said they never failed to hunt down their quarry until they had captured it, or themselves been turned back by a superior force. Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quite strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number of Sagoths. At last after what seemed months and may I now realize have been years, we came inside of the done escarpment which buttressed the foothills of Sarri. At almost the same instant Hucha, who looked ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he could see a body of men far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. It was the long expected pursuit. I asked Gack if we could make Sarri in time to escape them. We may, he replied, but you will find that the Sagoths can move with incredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they are doubtless much fresher than we. Then he paused, glancing at Perry. I knew what he meant, the old man was exhausted. For much of the period of our flight either Gack or I had half supported him on the march. With such a handicap less fleet pursuers than Sagoths might easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights which confronted us. You and Hucha go on ahead, I said. Perry and I will make it if we are able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is no reason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be helped, we have simply to face it. I will not desert a companion," was Gack's simple reply. I hadn't known that this great hairy, primeval man had any such nobility of character stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but now to my liking was added honour and respect. Yes, and love, but I still urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could reach his people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force to drive off the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself. No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it. But he suggested that Hucha might hurry on, warn the Sarians, of the king's danger. It didn't require much urging to start Hucha. The naked idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the foothills which we now had reached. Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Gack's life and mine, and the old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew that he was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought of falling into the hands of the Sagoths. Gack finally solved the problem in part by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him. While the act cut down Gack's speed he still could travel faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man. CHAPTER XIII. THE SLY ONE. The Sagoths were gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted us they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled up the narrow canyon that Gack had chosen to approach the heights of Sarri. On either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous particolored rock, while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft and noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon we had had no glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing to hope that they had lost our trail and that we would reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale them before we should be overtaken. Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might be tokened the success of Hujah's mission. By now he should have reached the outposts of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal for Succor. In another moment the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with primeval warriors, but nothing of the kind happened. As a matter of fact the sly one had betrayed us. At the moment that we expected to see Sarrian spearmen charging to our relief at Hujah's back the craven traitor was sneaking around the outskirts of the nearest Sarrian village that he might come up from the other side when it was too late to save us, claiming that he had become lost among the mountains. Hujah still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had struck in Dianne's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal to sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me. As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians appeared, Gak became both angry and alarmed. Presently as the sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears he called to me over his shoulder that we were lost. A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the seagoths at the far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we had just passed. And then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view, but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind us, was evidence that the guerrilla man had sighted us. Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so that appeared more like the main canyon than the left-hand branch. The seagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than by a ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Gak and Perry, and as I reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance. Pausing there I waited until the foremost seagoth hove into sight. Gak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, and as the seagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I turned and fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful and the entire party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one canyon while Gak bore Perry to safety up the other. Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when my very life depended on fleetness of foot I cannot say that I ran any better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running had called down upon my head the routers' raucous and reproachful cries of ice-wagon and call a cab. The seagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular fleeter than his fellows who was perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed to pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could not even guess. Possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the corresponding valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had plunged into a cul-de-sac? Realizing that now I could not hope to out-distance the seagoths to the top of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to check them temporarily, and to this end had unslunged my rudely-made bow and plucked an arrow from the skin-quiver which hung behind my shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and wheeled toward the gorilla-man. In the world of my birth I had never drawn a shaft, but since our escape from futra I had kept the party supplied with small game by means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed a fair degree of accuracy. During our flight from futra I had restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Gack and I had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword. The hard wood of the bow was extremely tough, and this, with the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave me unwanted confidence in my new weapon. Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then. Never were my nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and deliberately as though at a straw target. The seagoth had never before seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over his dull intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort of engine of destruction, for he too came to a halt simultaneously swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in which they employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve even under the most unfavorable circumstances is little short of miraculous. My shaft was drawn back its full length, my eye had centred its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary, and then he launched his hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant that our missiles flew I leaped to one side, but the seagoth sprang forward to follow up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the swish of the hatchet as it grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft pierced the seagoth's savage heart, and with a single groan he lunged almost at my feet, stone dead. Close behind him were two more, fifty yards perhaps, but the distance gave me time to snatch up the dead guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had just given me, had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. Those which I had perloined at Futra we had not been able to bring along because their size precluded our concealing them within the skins of the mayhars which had brought us safely from the city. With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with another arrow, which brought down a second seagoth, and then as his fellow's hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield and fitted another shaft for him, but he did not wait to receive it. Instead he turned and retreated toward the main body of Gorillamen. Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment. Once more I took up my flight, nor were the seagoths apparently over-anxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested I reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two or three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm. But on the left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. Along this I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond the canyon's end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening to a large cave. Before the ledge continued until it passed from sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain. Here I felt I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting him until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were of various sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions for use as ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave, I waited the advance of the seagoths. As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint sound that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight noise from within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. It might have been produced by the moving of the great body of some huge beast rising from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the same instant I thought that I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the turn. For the next few seconds my attention was considerably divided, and then from the inky blackness at my right. I saw two flaming eyes glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet above my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be standing upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing up upon its hind legs. But I had seen enough of the monsters of Palucidar to know that I might be facing some new and frightful titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before. Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the cave. And now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous growl. I waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud. I doubt if the seagoths heard it at all, but the suggestion of latent possibilities behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate from a gigantic and ferocious beast. As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the cave where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes. But an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a seagoth as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. As the fellow saw me, he leaped along the ledge in pursuit, and after him came as many of his companions as could crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time the beast emerged from the cave so that he and the seagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge. The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the end of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it sighted the seagoths it admitted a most frightful roar, and with open mouth charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost guerrilla man turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his onrushing companions. The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The seagoth nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and leaped deliberately into an awful death upon the jagged rock's three hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered in the next. There was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and the mangled corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast even pause in his steady advance along the ledge. Shrieking seagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to escape him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing the demoralized remnant of the man-hunters. For a long time I could hear the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared in the distance. Later I learned from Gack, who had finally come to his tribesmen and returned with a party to rescue me, that the writh, as it is called, pursued the seagoths until it had exterminated the entire band. Gack was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible creature, which within Pellucidar is truly the King of Beasts. Not caring to venture back into the canyon where I might fall prey either to the cave-bearer or the seagoths, I continued on along the ledge, believing that by following around the mountain I could reach the land of Sarri from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did not come to the land of Sarri then, nor for a long time thereafter.