LOST ON PELLUCIDAR
The Arabs, of I you at the end of my last (Innes began), and I to be only upon me, proved to be friendly—they were for the very of that had my existence. The rhamphorhynchus-like that I had with me from the world—the Mahar that Hooja the Sly One had for my dear Dian at the moment of my departure—filled them with wonder and with awe.
Nor less so did the which had me to Pellucidar and again, and which out in the about two miles from my camp.
With their help I managed to the of its great into a position—the nose in a we had in the and the of it supported by the of date-palms cut for the purpose.
It was a job with only wild Arabs and their to do the work of an electric crane—but it was completed, and I was for departure.
For some time I to take the Mahar with me. She had been and since she had herself a the "iron mole." It had been, of course, for me to with her since she had no organs and I no knowledge of her fourth-dimension, sixth-sense method of communication.
Naturally I am kind-hearted, and so I it me to this and thing alone in a and world. The result was that when I entered the iron I took her with me.
That she that we were about to return to Pellucidar was evident, for her manner from that of that had her, to an almost of and delight.
Our through the earth's was but a of my two the and the worlds. This time, however, I that we must have a more nearly course, for we the in a minutes' less time than upon the occasion of my through the five-hundred-mile crust. Just a less than seventy-two hours after our into the of the Sahara, we through the surface of Pellucidar.
Fortune once again me by the of margins, for when I opened the door in the prospector's jacket I saw that we had missed up through the of an by but a hundred yards.
The of the country was to me—I had no of where I was upon the one hundred and twenty-four square miles of Pellucidar's land surface.
The sun its from zenith, as it had done since the of Pellucidarian time—as it would continue to do to the end of it. Before me, across the wide sea, the weird, to meet the sky until it itself to view in the of above the level of my eyes.
How it looked! How different from the and area of the of the upon the crust!
I was lost. Though I a lifetime, I might the of my friends of this and world. Never again might I see dear old Perry, Ghak the Hairy One, Dacor the Strong One, that other one—my sweet and mate, Dian the Beautiful!
But so I was to once more the surface of Pellucidar. Mysterious and terrible, and though she is in many of her aspects, I can not but love her. Her very to me, for it is the of Nature.
The of her me. Her land freedom.
Her oceans, of by the of man, me out upon their bosoms.
Not for an did I the world of my nativity. I was in Pellucidar. I was home. And I was content.
As I the thing that had me safely through the earth's crust, my traveling companion, the Mahar, from the of the and me. For a long time she motionless.
What were through the of her brain?
I do not know.
She was a of the of Pellucidar. By a of her had the power of in that world of anomalies.
To her, such as I were of a order. As Perry had among the of her in the city of Phutra, it was still an open question among the Mahars as to man means of or the power of reason.
Her that in the center of all-pervading there was a single, vast, cavity, which was Pellucidar. This had been left there for the purpose of providing a place for the and of the Mahar race. Everything it had been put there for the of the Mahar.
I what this particular Mahar might think now. I in upon just what the had been upon her of through the earth's crust, and out into a world that one of less than the great Mahars easily see was a different world from her own Pellucidar.
What had she of the world's sun?
What had been the upon her of the moon and of the clear African nights?
How had she them?
With what of must she have the sun moving slowly across the to at last the western horizon, in his wake that which the Mahar had witnessed—the of night? For upon Pellucidar there is no night. The sun in the center of the Pellucidarian sky—directly overhead.
Then, too, she must have been by the of the which had its way from world to world and again. And that it had been by a being must also have to her.
Too, she had me with other men upon the earth's surface. She had the of the of books and arms, and ammunition, and the of the which I had into the of the iron for to Pellucidar.
She had all these of a and brain-power in scientific anything that her had produced; once had she a of her own kind.
There have been but a single in the mind of the Mahar—there were other worlds than Pellucidar, and the was a being.
Now the at my was slowly toward the near-by sea. At my a long-barreled six-shooter—somehow I had been unable to the same of security in the that had been perfected since my from the world—and in my hand was a rifle.
I have the Mahar with ease, for I that she was escaping—but I did not.
I that if she return to her own with the of her adventures, the position of the Pellucidar would be at a single stride, for at once man would take his proper place in the of the reptilia.
At the of the sea the paused and looked at me. Then she into the surf.
For minutes I saw no more of her as she in the depths.
Then a hundred yards from she rose and there for another while she upon the surface.
Finally she spread her wings, them a score of times and rose above the sea. A single time she aloft—and then as an she away.
I her until the her and she had disappeared. I was alone.
My was to where Pellucidar I might be—and in what direction the land of the Sarians where Ghak the Hairy One ruled.
But how was I to in which direction Sari?
And if I set out to search—what then?
Could I my way to the with its of books, firearms, ammunition, scientific instruments, and still more books—its great library of upon every branch of sciences?
And if I not, of what value was all this of and progress to be to the world of my adoption?
Upon the other hand, if I here alone with it, what I single-handed?
Nothing.
But where there was no east, no west, no north, no south, no stars, no moon, and only a sun, how was I to my way to this spot should I out of of it?
I didn't know.
For a long time I in thought, when it to me to try out one of the I had and if it upon an pole. I the and a without.
Moving a from the that the might not be by its great of iron and I the about in every direction.
Always and the upon a point out to sea, pointing toward a large some ten or twenty miles distant. This then should be north.
I my note-book from my pocket and a sketch of the the range of my vision. Due north the island, out upon the sea.
The spot I had for my was the top of a large, which rose six or eight above the turf. This spot I called Greenwich. The was the "Royal Observatory."
I had a start! I cannot tell you what a of was to me by the that there was at least one spot Pellucidar with a familiar name and a place upon a map.
It was with almost that I a little circle in my note-book and the word Greenwich it.
Now I I might start out upon my search with some of my way again to the prospector.
I that at I would travel directly south in the that I might in that direction some familiar landmark. It was as good a direction as any. This much at least might be said of it.
Among the many other I had from the world were a number of pedometers. I three of these into my pockets with the idea that I might arrive at a more or less from the of them all.
On my map I would register so many south, so many east, so many west, and so on. When I was to return I would then do so by any that I might choose.
I also a quantity of across my shoulders, some matches, and an fry-pan and a small stew-kettle of the same metal to my belt.
I was ready—ready to go and a world!
Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 square miles for my friends, my mate, and good old Perry!
And so, after locking the door in the of the prospector, I set out upon my quest. Due south I traveled, across thick-dotted with herds.
Through I my way and up the of for a pass to their sides.
Ibex and musk-sheep my good old revolver, so that I not for food in the higher altitudes. The and the gave of fruits and wild birds, antelope, aurochsen, and elk.
Occasionally, for the larger game animals and the of prey, I used my rifle, but for the most part the all my needs.
There were times, too, when by a bear, a saber-toothed tiger, or spelaea, black-maned and terrible, my powerful inadequate—but me so that I passed through that the of the to at the of my neck.
How long I toward the south I do not know, for after I left the something with my watch, and I was again at the of the of Pellucidar, ahead the great, sun which at noon.
I ate many times, however, so that days must have elapsed, possibly months with no familiar my eyes.
I saw no men of men. Nor is this strange, for Pellucidar, in its land area, is immense, while the there is very and from numerous.
Doubtless upon that long search mine was the to touch the in many places—mine the to upon the of the landscape.
It was a thought. I not but upon it often as I my way through this world. Then, suddenly, one day I out of the peace of into the presence of man—and peace was gone.
It thus:
I had been a out of a of and had paused at its mouth to view the little that me. At one was wood, while ahead a river peacefully along to the in which the at the valley's edge.
Presently, as I the scene, as for Nature's as if I had not looked upon times, a of from the direction of the woods. That the harsh, notes rose from the of men I not doubt.
I a large near the mouth of the and waited. I the of in the forest, and I that came came quickly—pursued and pursuers, doubtless.
In a time some animal would into view, and a moment later a score of half-naked would come after with or or great stone-knives.
I had the thing so many times my life Pellucidar that I that I to a what I was about to witness. I that the would prove and be able to direct me toward Sari.
Even as I was these the from the forest. But it was no four-footed beast. Instead, what I saw was an old man—a old man!
Staggering and from what must have been some very terrible fate, if one judge from the he him toward the wood, he came on in my direction.
He had but a from the when I the of his pursuers—a Sagoth, one of those and terrible gorilla-men who the Mahars in their cities, from time to time upon slave-raiding or against the of Pellucidar, of the of the world think as we think of the or the wild sheep of our own world.
Close the Sagoth came others until a full dozen raced, after the terror-stricken old man. They would be upon him shortly, that was plain.
One of them was him, his back-thrown spear-arm to his purpose.
And then, with the of an blow, I a past with the and of the fugitive.
Simultaneously there over me the that the old man was—PERRY! That he was about to die my very with no that I him in time to the catastrophe—for to me it meant a catastrophe!
Perry was my best friend.
Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. She was my mate—a part of me.
I had the in my hand and the at my belt; one not his with the age and the century simultaneously.
Now from past I still in the age, and in my of the age there were no of firearms.
The was almost upon Perry when the of the gun in my hand me from the of terror that had me. From my I up the rifle—a engine of that might a or a at a single shot—and let drive at the Sagoth's broad, breast.
At the of the he stopped stock-still. His from his hand.
Then he upon his face.
The upon the others was little less remarkable. Perry alone have possibly the meaning of the loud report or its with the of the Sagoth. The other gorilla-men for but an instant. Then with of they to Perry.
At the same time I from my boulder, one of my that I might the more of the rifle. Quickly I again with the weapon.
Then it was that all were toward me. Another Sagoth to the from the revolver; but it did not stop his companions. They were out for as well as blood now, and they meant to have both.
As I ran toward Perry I four more shots, three of our antagonists. Then at last the seven wavered. It was too much for them, this death that leaped, invisible, upon them from a great distance.
As they I Perry's side. I have such an upon any man's as that upon Perry's when he me. I have no to it. There was not time to talk then—scarce for a greeting. I the full, into his hand, the last in my own, and reloaded. There were but six Sagoths left then.
They started toward us once more, though I see that they were as much by the noise of the as by their effects. They us. Half-way the three that and fled, and we let them go.
The last we saw of them they were into the of the forest. And then Perry and his arms about my and, his old upon my shoulder, like a child.
