Books: Pellucidar

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I think that they must have been commencing to have some doubts--those
wild, naked, red warriors--for when the first man fell in the
second boat, the others stopped paddling and commenced to jabber
among themselves.

The third boat pulled up alongside the second and its crews joined
in the conference. Taking advantage of the lull in the battle, I
called out to the survivors to return to their shore.

"I have no fight with you," I cried, and then I told them who I
was and added that if they would live in peace they must sooner or
later join forces with me.

"Go back now to your people," I counseled them, "and tell them
that you have seen David I, Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of
Pellucidar, and that single-handed he has overcome you, just as
be intends over-coming the Mahars and the Sagoths and any other
peoples of Pellucidar who threaten the peace and wel-fare of his
empire."

Slowly they turned the noses of their canoes toward land. It was
evident that they were impressed; yet that they were loath to give
up without further con-testing my claim to naval supremacy was
also apparent, for some of their number seemed to be exhorting the
others to a renewal of the conflict.

However, at last they drew slowly away, and the Sari, which had not
decreased her snail-like speed during this, her first engagement,
continued upon her slow, uneven way.

Presently Perry stuck his head up through the hatch and hailed me.

"Have the scoundrels departed?" he asked. "Have you killed them
all?"

"Those whom I failed to kill have departed, Perry," I replied.

He came out on deck and, peering over the side, descried the lone
canoe floating a short distance astern with its grim and grisly
freight. Farther his eyes wan-dered to the retreating boats.

"David," said he at last, "this is a notable occasion. It is a great
day in the annals of Pellucidar. We have won a glorious victory.

"Your majesty's navy has routed a fleet of the enemy thrice its
own size, manned by ten times as many men. Let us give thanks."

I could scarce restrain a smile at Perry's use of the pronoun "we,"
yet I was glad to share the rejoicing with him as I shall always
be glad to share everything with the dear old fellow.

Perry is the only male coward I have ever known whom I could respect
and love. He was not created for fighting; but I think that if
the occasion should ever arise where it became necessary he would
give his life cheer-fully for me--yes, I KNOW it.

It took us a long time to work around the islands and draw in close
to Anoroc. In the leisure afforded we took turns working on our
map, and by means of the compass and a little guesswork we set down
the shoreline we had left and the three islands with fair accuracy.

Crossed sabers marked the spot where the first great naval engagement
of a world had taken place. In a note-book we jotted down, as had
been our custom, details that would be of historical value later.

Opposite Anoroc we came to anchor quite close to shore. I knew
from my previous experience with the tortuous trails of the island
that I could never find my way inland to the hidden tree-village
of the Mezop chieftain, Ja; so we remained aboard the Sari, firing
our express rifles at intervals to attract the attention of the
natives.

After some ten shots had been fired at considerable intervals a body
of copper-colored warriors appeared upon the shore. They watched
us for a moment and then I hailed them, asking the whereabouts of
my old friend Ja.

They did not reply at once, but stood with their heads together
in serious and animated discussion. Continually they turned their
eyes toward our strange craft. It was evident that they were greatly
puzzled by our appear-ance as well as unable to explain the source
of the loud noises that had attracted their attention to us. At
last one of the warriors addressed us.

"Who are you who seek Ja?" he asked. "What would you of our chief?"

"We are friends," I replied. "I am David. Tell Ja that David,
whose life be once saved from a sithic, has come again to visit
him.

"If you will send out a canoe we will come ashore. We cannot bring
our great warship closer in."

Again they talked for a considerable time. Then two of them entered
a canoe that several dragged from its hiding-place in the jungle
and paddled swiftly toward us.

They were magnificent specimens of manhood. Perry had never seen
a member of this red race close to be-fore. In fact, the dead men
in the canoe we had left astern after the battle and the survivors
who were paddling rapidly toward their shore were the first he ever
had seen. He had been greatly impressed by their physical beauty
and the promise of superior intelligence which their well-shaped
skulls gave.

The two who now paddled out received us into their canoe with
dignified courtesy. To my inquiries relative to Ja they explained
that he had not been in the village when our signals were heard,
but that runners had been sent out after him and that doubtless he
was already upon his way to the coast.

One of the men remembered me from the occasion of my former visit
to the island; he was extremely agree-able the moment that he came
close enough to recognize me. He said that Ja would be delighted to
welcome me, and that all the tribe of Anoroc knew of me by repute,
and had received explicit instructions from their chief-tain that
if any of them should ever come upon me to show me every kindness
and attention.

Upon shore we were received with equal honor. While we stood
conversing with our bronze friends a tall warrior leaped suddenly
from the jungle.

It was Ja. As his eyes fell upon me his face lighted with pleasure.
He came quickly forward to greet me after the manner of his tribe.

Toward Perry he was equally hospitable. The old man fell in love
with the savage giant as completely as had I. Ja conducted us along
the maze-like trail to his strange village, where he gave over one
of the tree-houses for our exclusive use.

Perry was much interested in the unique habitation, which resembled
nothing so much as a huge wasp's nest built around the bole of a
tree well above the ground.

After we had eaten and rested Ja came to see us with a number of
his head men. They listened attentively to my story, which included
a narrative of the events lead-ing to the formation of the federated
kingdoms, the battle with the Mahars, my journey to the outer world,
and my return to Pellucidar and search for Sari and my mate.

Ja told me that the Mezops had heard something of the federation
and had been much interested in it. He had even gone so far as to
send a party of warriors toward Sari to investigate the reports,
and to arrange for the entrance of Anoroc into the empire in case
it ap-peared that there was any truth in the rumors that one of
the aims of the federation was the overthrow of the Mahars.

The delegation had met with a party of Sagoths. As there had been
a truce between the Mahars and the Mezops for many generations,
they camped with these warriors of the reptiles, from whom they
learned that the federation had gone to pieces. So the party
returned to Anoroc.

When I showed Ja our map and explained its purpose to him, he was
much interested. The location of Anoroc, the Mountains of the
Clouds, the river, and the strip of seacoast were all familiar to
him.

He quickly indicated the position of the inland sea and close beside
it, the city of Phutra, where one of the powerful Mahar nations had
its seat. He likewise showed us where Sari should be and carried
his own coast-line as far north and south as it was known to him.

His additions to the map convinced us that Green-wich lay upon
the verge of this same sea, and that it might be reached by water
more easily than by the arduous crossing of the mountains or the
dangerous ap-proach through Phutra, which lay almost directly in
line between Anoroc and Greenwich to the northwest.

If Sari lay upon the same water then the shore-line must bend far
back toward the southwest of Greenwich--an assumption which, by
the way, we found later to be true. Also, Sari was upon a lofty
plateau at the southern end of a mighty gulf of the Great Ocean.

The location which Ja gave to distant Amoz puzzled us, for it
placed it due north of Greenwich, apparently in mid-ocean. As Ja
had never been so far and knew only of Amoz through hearsay, we
thought that he must be mistaken; but he was not. Amoz lies directly
north of Greenwich across the mouth of the same gulf as that upon
which Sari is.

The sense of direction and location of these primitive Pellucidarians
is little short of uncanny, as I have had occasion to remark in
the past. You may take one of them to the uttermost ends of his
world, to places of which he has never even heard, yet without
sun or moon or stars to guide him, without map or compass, he will
travel straight for home in the shortest direction.

Mountains, rivers, and seas may have to be gone around. but never
once does his sense of direction fail him--the homing instinct is
supreme.

In the same remarkable way they never forget the location of any
place to which they have ever been, and know that of many of which
they have only heard from others who have visited them.

In short, each Pellucidarian is a walking geography of his own
district and of much of the country contiguous thereto. It always
proved of the greatest aid to Perry and me; nevertheless we were
anxious to enlarge our map, for we at least were not endowed with
the homing instinct.

After several long councils it was decided that, in order to expedite
matters, Perry should return to the prospector with a strong party
of Mezops and fetch the freight I had brought from the outer world.
Ja and his warriors were much impressed by our firearms, and were
also anxious to build boats with sails.

As we had arms at the prospector and also books on boat-building
we thought that it might prove an ex-cellent idea to start these
naturally maritime people upon the construction of a well built
navy of staunch sailing-vessels. I was sure that with definite
plans to go by Perry could oversee the construction of an adequate
flotilla.

I warned him, however, not to be too ambitious, and to forget about
dreadnoughts and armored cruisers for a while and build instead a
few small sailing-boats that could be manned by four or five men.

I was to proceed to Sari, and while prosecuting my search for Dian
attempt at the same time the rehabili-tation of the federation.
Perry was going as far as possible by water, with the chances that
the entire trip might be made in that manner, which proved to be
the fact.

With a couple of Mezops as companions I started for Sari. In order
to avoid crossing the principal range of the Mountains of the Clouds
we took a route that passed a little way south of Phutra. We had
eaten four times and slept once, and were, as my companions told
me, not far from the great Mahar city, when we were sud-denly
confronted by a considerable band of Sagoths.

They did not attack us, owing to the peace which exists between
the Mahars and the Mezops, but I could see that they looked upon
me with considerable sus-picion. My friends told them that I was
a stranger from a remote country, and as we had previously planned
against such a contingency I pretended ignorance of the language
which the human beings of Pellucidar em-ploy in conversing with
the gorilla-like soldiery of the Mahars.

I noticed, and not without misgivings, that the leader of the Sagoths
eyed me with an expression that be-tokened partial recognition.
I was sure that he had seen me before during the period of my
incarceration in Phutra and that he was trying to recall my identity.

It worried me not a little. I was extremely thankful when we bade
them adieu and continued upon our journey.

Several times during the next few marches I became acutely conscious
of the sensation of being watched by unseen eyes, but I did not
speak of my suspicions to my companions. Later I had reason to
regret my reticence, for--

Well, this is how it happened:

We had killed an antelope and after eating our fill I had lain down
to sleep. The Pellucidarians, who seem seldom if ever to require
sleep, joined me in this instance, for we had had a very trying
march along the northern foothills of the Mountains of the Clouds,
and now with their bellies filled with meat they seemed ready for
slumber.

When I awoke it was with a start to find a couple of huge Sagoths
astride me. They pinioned my arms and legs, and later chained my
wrists behind my back. Then they let me up.

I saw my companions; the brave fellows lay dead where they had
slept, javelined to death without a chance at self-defense.

I was furious. I threatened the Sagoth leader with all sorts of
dire reprisals; but when he heard me speak the hybrid language that
is the medium of communication between his kind and the human race
of the inner world he only grinned, as much as to say, "I thought
so!"

They had not taken my revolvers or ammunition away from me because
they did not know what they were; but my heavy rifle I had lost.
They simply left it where it had lain beside me.

So low in the scale of intelligence are they, that they had not
sufficient interest in this strange object even to fetch it along
with them.

I knew from the direction of our march that they were taking me
to Phutra. Once there I did not need much of an imagination to
picture what my fate would be. It was the arena and a wild thag or
fierce tarag for me--unless the Mahars elected to take me to the
pits.

In that case my end would be no more certain, though infinitely
more horrible and painful, for in the pits I should be subjected
to cruel vivisection. From what I had once seen of their methods
in the pits of Phutra I knew them to be the opposite of merciful,
whereas in the arena I should be quickly despatched by some savage
beast.

Arrived at the underground city, I was taken im-mediately before
a slimy Mahar. When the creature had received the report of the
Sagoth its cold eyes glistened with malice and hatred as they were
turned balefully upon me.

I knew then that my identity had been guessed. With a show of
excitement that I had never before seen evinced by a member of the
dominant race of Pellucidar, the Mahar hustled me away, heavily
guarded, through the main avenue of the city to one of the principal
buildings.

Here we were ushered into a great hall where presently many Mahars
gathered.

In utter silence they conversed, for they have no oral speech since
they are without auditory nerves. Their method of communication
Perry has likened to the pro-jection of a sixth sense into a fourth
dimension, where it becomes cognizable to the sixth sense of their
audience.

Be that as it may, however, it was evident that I was the subject
of discussion, and from the hateful looks bestowed upon me not a
particularly pleasant subject.

How long I waited for their decision I do not know, but it must
have been a very long time. Finally one of the Sagoths addressed
me. He was acting as interpreter for his masters.

"The Mahars will spare your life," he said, "and re-lease you on
one condition."

"And what is that condition?" I asked, though I could guess its
terms.

"That you return to them that which you stole from the pits of
Phutra when you killed the four Mahars and escaped," he replied.

I had thought that that would be it. The great secret upon which
depended the continuance of the Mahar race was safely hid where
only Dian and I knew.

I ventured to imagine that they would have given me much more than
my liberty to have it safely in their keeping again; but after
that--what?

Would they keep their promises?

I doubted it. With the secret of artificial propagation once more
in their hands their numbers would soon be made so to overrun the
world of Pellucidar that there could be no hope for the eventual
supremacy of the human race, the cause for which I so devoutly
hoped, for which I had consecrated my life, and for which I was
not willing to give my life.

Yes! In that moment as I stood before the heartless tribunal I felt
that my life would be a very little thing to give could it save
to the human race of Pellucidar the chance to come into its own by
insuring the eventual extinction of the hated, powerful Mahars.

"Come!" exclaimed the Sagoths. "The mighty Mahars await your
reply."

"You may say to them," I answered, "that I shall not tell them
where the great secret is hid."

When this had been translated to them there was a great beating of
reptilian wings, gaping of sharp-fanged jaws, and hideous hissing.
I thought that they were about to fall upon me on the spot, and so
I laid my hands upon my revolvers; but at length they became more
quiet and presently transmitted some command to my Sagoth guard,
the chief of which laid a heavy hand upon my arm and pushed me
roughly before him from the audience-chamber.

They took me to the pits, where I lay carefully guarded. I was
sure that I was to be taken to the vivi-section laboratory, and
it required all my courage to fortify myself against the terrors
of so fearful a death. In Pellucidar, where there is no time,
death-agonies may endure for eternities.

Accordingly, I had to steel myself against an endless doom, which
now stared me in the face!

CHAPTER V

SURPRISES

But at last the allotted moment arrived--the moment for which I
had been trying to prepare myself, for how long I could not even
guess. A great Sagoth came and spoke some words of command to
those who watched over me. I was jerked roughly to my feet and
with little consideration hustled upward toward the higher levels.

Out into the broad avenue they conducted me, where, amid huge
throngs of Mahars, Sagoths, and heavily guarded slaves, I was led,
or, rather, pushed and shoved roughly, along in the same direction
that the mob moved. I had seen such a concourse of people once
be-fore in the buried city of Phutra; I guessed, and rightly, that
we were bound for the great arena where slaves who are condemned
to death meet their end.

Into the vast amphitheater they took me, stationing me at the
extreme end of the arena. The queen came, with her slimy, sickening
retinue. The seats were filled. The show was about to commence.

Then, from a little doorway in the opposite end of the structure,
a girl was led into the arena. She was at a considerable distance
from me. I could not see her features.

I wondered what fate awaited this other poor victim and myself,
and why they had chosen to have us die together. My own fate, or
rather, my thought of it, was submerged in the natural pity I felt
for this lone girl, doomed to die horribly beneath the cold, cruel
eyes of her awful captors. Of what crime could she be guilty that
she must expiate it in the dreaded arena?

As I stood thus thinking, another door, this time at one of the
long sides of the arena, was thrown open, and into the theater of
death slunk a mighty tarag, the huge cave tiger of the Stone Age.
At my sides were my re-volvers. My captors had not taken them from
me, be-cause they did not yet realize their nature. Doubtless they
thought them some strange manner of war-club, and as those who are
condemned to the arena are per-mitted weapons of defense, they let
me keep them.

The girl they had armed with a javelin. A brass pin would have been
almost as effective against the ferocious monster they had loosed
upon her.

The tarag stood for a moment looking about him--first up at the
vast audience and then about the arena. He did not seem to see me
at all, but his eyes fell presently upon the girl. A hideous roar
broke from his titanic lungs--a roar which ended in a long-drawn
scream that is more human than the death-cry of a tortured woman--more
human but more awesome. I could scarce restrain a shudder.

Slowly the beast turned and moved toward the girl. Then it was
that I came to myself and to a realization of my duty. Quickly and
as noiselessly as possible I ran down the arena in pursuit of the
grim creature. As I ran I drew one of my pitifully futile weapons.
Ah! Could I but have had my lost express-gun in my hands at that
moment! A single well-placed shot would have crumbled even this
great monster. The best I could hope to ac-complish was to divert
the thing from the girl to myself and then to place as many bullets
as possible in it before it reached and mauled me into insensibility
and death.

There is a certain unwritten law of the arena that vouchsafes freedom
and immunity to the victor, be he beast or human being--both of
whom, by the way, are all the same to the Mahar. That is, they
were accus-tomed to look upon man as a lower animal before Perry
and I broke through the Pellucidarian crust, but I imagine that
they were beginning to alter their views a trifle and to realize
that in the gilak--their word for human being--they had a highly
organized, reasoning being to contend with.

Be that as it may, the chances were that the tarag alone would
profit by the law of the arena. A few more of his long strides,
a prodigious leap, and he would be upon the girl. I raised
a revolver and fired. The bullet struck him in the left hind leg.
It couldn't have damaged him much; but the report of the shot
brought him around, facing me.

I think the snarling visage of a huge, enraged, saber-toothed tiger
is one of the most terrible sights in the world. Especially if
he be snarling at you and there be nothing between the two of you
but bare sand.

Even as he faced me a little cry from the girl carried my eyes
beyond the brute to her face. Hers was fastened upon me with an
expression of incredulity that baffles description. There was both
hope and horror in them, too.

"Dian!" I cried. "My Heavens, Dian!"

I saw her lips form the name David, as with raised javelin she
rushed forward upon the tarag. She was a tigress then--a primitive
savage female defending her loved one. Before she could reach the
beast with her puny weapon, I fired again at the point where the
tarag's neck met his left shoulder. If I could get a bullet through
there it might reach his heart. The bullet didn't reach his heart,
but it stopped him for an instant.

It was then that a strange thing happened. I heard a great hissing
from the stands occupied by the Mahars, and as I glanced toward
them I saw three mighty thipdars--the winged dragons that guard the
queen, or, as Perry calls them, pterodactyls--rise swiftly from
their rocks and dart lightning-like, toward the center of the arena.
They are huge, powerful reptiles. One of them, with the advantage
which his wings might give him, would easily be a match for a cave
bear or a tarag.

These three, to my consternation, swooped down upon the tarag as
he was gathering himself for a final charge upon me. They buried
their talons in his back and lifted him bodily from the arena as
if he had been a chicken in the clutches of a hawk.

What could it mean?

I was baffled for an explanation; but with the tarag gone I lost
no time in hastening to Dian's side. With a little cry of delight
she threw herself into my arms. So lost were we in the ecstasy of
reunion that neither of us--to this day--can tell what became of
the tarag.

The first thing we were aware of was the presence of a body of
Sagoths about us. Gruffly they commanded us to follow them. They
led us from the arena and back through the streets of Phutra to the
audience chamber in which I had been tried and sentenced. Here we
found ourselves facing the same cold, cruel tribunal.

Again a Sagoth acted as interpreter. He explained that our lives
bad been spared because at the last moment Tu-al-sa had returned
to Phutra, and seeing me in the arena had prevailed upon the queen
to spare my life.

"Who is Tu-al-sa?" I asked.

"A Mahar whose last male ancestor was--ages ago--the last of the
male rulers among the Mahars," he replied.

"Why should she wish to have my life spared?"

He shrugged his shoulders and then repeated my question to the
Mahar spokesman. When the latter had explained in the strange
sign-language that passes for speech between the Mahars and their
fighting men the Sagoth turned again to me:

"For a long time you had Tu-al-sa in your power," he explained.
"You might easily have killed her or aban-doned her in a strange
world--but you did neither. You did not harm her, and you brought
her back with you to Pellucidar and set her free to return to
Phutra. This is your reward."

Now I understood. The Mahar who had been my in-voluntary companion
upon my return to the outer world was Tu-al-sa. This was the first
time that I had learned the lady's name. I thanked fate that I
had not left her upon the sands of the Sahara--or put a bullet in
her, as I had been tempted to do. I was surprised to discover that
gratitude was a characteristic of the dominant race of Pellucidar.
I could never think of them as aught but cold-blooded, brainless
reptiles, though Perry had de-voted much time in explaining to me
that owing to a strange freak of evolution among all the genera
of the inner world, this species of the reptilia had advanced to
a position quite analogous to that which man holds upon the outer
crust.

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