TRAVELING WITH TERROR
We there the peaceful river. There Perry told me all that had him since I had for the crust.
It that Hooja had it appear that I had left Dian behind, and that I did not purpose returning to Pellucidar. He told them that I was of another world and that I had of this and of its inhabitants.
To Dian he had that I had a in the world to which I was returning; that I had taking Dian the Beautiful with me; and that she had the last of me.
Shortly Dian had from the camp, had Perry or of her since.
He had no of the time that had since I had departed, but that many years had their slow way into the past.
Hooja, too, had very soon after Dian had left. The Sarians, under Ghak the Hairy One, and the Amozites under Dacor the Strong One, Dian's brother, had out over my defection, for Ghak would not that I had thus and them.
The result had been that these two powerful had upon one another with the new that Perry and I had them to make and to use. Other of the new took with the original or set up of their own.
The result was the total of the work we had so well started.
Taking of the war, the Mahars had their Sagoths in and upon one after another in succession, among them and them for the most part to as a of terror as that from which we had them.
Alone of all the once-mighty the Sarians and the Amozites with a other to maintain their of the Mahars; but these were still among themselves, had it at all to Perry when he had last been among them that any attempt at re-amalgamation would be made.
"And thus, your majesty," he concluded, "has into the of the Stone Age our and with it has gone the First Empire of Pellucidar."
We had to at the use of my title, yet I was still "Emperor of Pellucidar," and some day I meant to what the act of the Hooja had down.
But I would my empress. To me she was empires.
"Have you no as to the of Dian?" I asked.
"None whatever," Perry. "It was in search of her that I came to the pass in which you me, and from which, David, you saved me.
"I perfectly well that you had not either Dian or Pellucidar. I that in some way Hooja the Sly One was at the of the matter, and I to go to Amoz, where I that Dian might come to the protection of her brother, and do my to her, and through her Dacor the Strong One, that we had all been of a plot to which you were no party.
"I came to Amoz after a most trying and terrible journey, only to that Dian was not among her brother's people and that they of her whereabouts.
"Dacor, I am sure, wanted to be and just, but so great were his and anger over the of his sister that he not to reason, but time and again that only your return to Pellucidar prove the of your intentions.
"Then came a from another tribe, sent I am sure at the of Hooja. He so the Amozites against me that I was to their country to assassination.
"In attempting to return to Sari I lost, and then the Sagoths me. For a long time I them, in and in to them off my trail.
"I on nuts and fruits and the that in my way.
"I on and on, in what I not guess; and at last I them no longer and the end came as I had long that it would come, that I had not that you would be there to save me."
We rested in our until Perry had to travel again. We planned much, all our air-castles; but above all we planned most to Dian.
I not that she was dead, yet where she might be in this world, and under what she might be living, I not guess.
When Perry was rested we returned to the prospector, where he himself out like a being—under-clothing, socks, shoes, jacket and and good, puttees.
When I had come upon him he was in sandals, a gee-string and a from the of a thag. Now he again for the time since the ape-folk had us of our that long-gone day that had our Pellucidar.
With a of across his shoulder, two six-shooters at his hips, and a in his hand he was a much Perry.
Indeed he was a different person from the old man who had entered the with me ten or eleven years before, for the trial that had us into such and into such a and undreamed-of-world.
Now he was and active. His muscles, almost from in his life, had out.
He was still an old man of course, but of appearing ten years older than he was, as he had when we left the world, he now appeared about ten years younger. The wild, free life of Pellucidar had for him.
Well, it must need have done so or killed him, for a man of Perry's physical condition not long have the and of the life of the world.
Perry had been in my map and in the "royal observatory" at Greenwich. By use of the we had our way to the with and accuracy.
Now that we were to set out again we to a different on the that it might lead us into more familiar territory.
I shall not you with a of the of our long search. Encounters with wild of size were of almost daily occurrence; but with our we ran little when one that we had this world of with crude, and all but naked.
We ate and slept many times—so many that we count—and so I do not know how long we roamed, though our map the and accurately. We must have a great many thousand square miles of territory, and yet we had nothing in the way of a familiar landmark, when from the of a mountain-range we were I in the great of clouds.
Now clouds are unknown in the of Pellucidar. The moment that my rested upon them my leaped. I Perry's arm and, pointing toward the distance, shouted:
"The Mountains of the Clouds!"
"They close to Phutra, and the country of our enemies, the Mahars," Perry remonstrated.
"I know it," I replied, "but they give us a starting-point from which to our search intelligently. They are at least a familiar landmark.
"They tell us that we are upon the right and not in the direction.
"Furthermore, close to the Mountains of the Clouds a good friend, Ja the Mezop. You did not know him, but you know all that he did for me and all that he will do to me.
"At least he can direct us upon the right direction toward Sari."
"The Mountains of the Clouds a range," Perry. "They must an territory. How are you to your friend in all the great country that is visible from their flanks?"
"Easily," I answered him, "for Ja gave me minute directions. I almost his exact words:
"'You need come to the of the of the Mountains of the Clouds. There you will a river that into the Lural Az.
"'Directly opposite the mouth of the river you will see three large out—so that they are discernible. The one to the left as you them from the mouth of the river is Anoroc, where I the of Anoroc.'"
And so we toward the great cloud-mass that was to be our for marches. At last we came close to the crags, Alp-like in their grandeur.
Rising among its fellows, one its thousands of above the others. It was he we sought; but at its no river toward any sea.
"It must from the opposite side," Perry, a at the that our progress. "We cannot the cold of those high passes, and to the miles about this range might a year or more. The land we must upon the opposite of the mountains."
"Then we must them," I insisted.
Perry shrugged.
"We can't do it, David," he repeated. "We are for the tropics. We should freeze to death among the and long we had a pass to the opposite side."
"We must them," I reiterated. "We will them."
I had a plan, and that plan we out. It took some time.
First we a permanent part way up the where there was good water. Then we set out in search of the great, of the higher altitudes.
He is a animal—a terrible animal. He is but little larger than his of the lesser, hills; but he makes up for it in the of his and in the length and of his coat. It was his that we were after.
We came upon him unexpectedly. I was in along a by the of of wild beasts. At a of the around which the path ran I came to with the Titan.
I was going up for a coat. He was for breakfast. Each that here was the very thing he sought.
With a the me.
At my right the rose for thousands of feet.
At my left it into a dim, cañon.
In of me was the bear.
Behind me was Perry.
I to him in warning, and then I my and into the of the creature. There was no time to take aim; the thing was too close upon me.
But that my took was from the of and pain that from the jowls. It didn't stop him, though.
I again, and then he was upon me. Down I his of maddened, and and sinew.
I my time had come. I sorry for old Perry, left all alone in this inhospitable, world.
And then of a I that the was gone and that I was unharmed. I to my feet, my still in my hand, and looked about for my antagonist.
I that I should him the trail, Perry, and so I in the direction I him to be, to Perry upon a above the trail. My of had him time to this point of safety.
There he squatted, his wide and his mouth ajar, the picture of terror and consternation.
"Where is he?" he when he saw me. "Where is he?"
"Didn't he come this way?" I asked.
"Nothing came this way," the old man. "But I his roars—he must have been as large as an elephant."
"He was," I admitted; "but where in the world do you he to?"
Then came a possible to my mind. I returned to the point at which the had me and over the of the into the below.
Far, I saw a small near the of the canon. It was the bear.
My second must have killed him, and so his body, after me to the path, had over into the abyss. I at the of how close I, too, must have been to going over with him.
It took us a long time to the carcass, and labor to remove the great pelt. But at last the thing was accomplished, and we returned to the us.
Here we another period to and it. When this was done to our we boots, trousers, and of the skin, the in.
From the we that came around our ears, with that about our and breasts. We were now well for our search for a pass to the opposite of the Mountains of the Clouds.
Our step now was to move our to the very of the which cap this range. Here we a snug, secure little hut, which we and with fuel for its fireplace.
With our as a we in search of a pass across the range.
Our every move was noted upon our which we now in duplicate. By this means we were saved and of already explored.
Systematically we in from our base, and when we had at last what might prove a pass we moved our to a new up.
It was hard work—cold, bitter, work. Not a step did we take in but the in our tracks.
There were the great in the timber, and gaunt, wolves—huge twice the size of our Canadian timber-wolves. Farther up we were by white bears—hungry, fellows, who came across the at the of us, or us by when they had not yet us.
It is one of the of life Pellucidar that man is more often the than the hunter. Myriad are the huge-bellied of this world. Never, from birth to death, are those great filled, so always are their owners about in search of meat.
Terribly for as they are, man presents to them in his an easy prey, slow of foot, of strength, ill-equipped by nature with natural of defense.
The looked upon us as easy meat. Only our saved us from extinction. Poor Perry was a lion at heart, and I am that the terrors of that period must have him anguish.
When we were pushing our and toward the which, we assumed, marked a way across the range, we at what second some great engine of and might upon us from behind, or in wait for us an ice-hummock or a of the steeps.
The of our was the world-old of upon which the of man had gazed. And when in the safety of our we to sleep the great and without the walls, and at the door, or their against the hut's until it and to the impact.
Yes, it was a life.
Perry had got to taking stock of our each time we returned to the hut. It something of an with him.
He'd count our one by one and then try to how long it would be the last was and we must either in the until we to death or forth, empty, to the of some bear.
I must admit that I, too, worried, for our progress was snail-like, and our not last forever. In the problem, we came to the to our us and make one last to the divide.
It would that we must go without sleep for a long period, and with the that when the time came that sleep no longer be we might still be high in the regions of and ice, where sleep would death, as we would be to the of wild and without from the cold.
But we that we must take these and so at last we set from our for the last time, such as we we least to do without. The and that time, and as we slowly the point to which we had attained, the cold more intense.
Presently, with two great our we entered a fog.
We had the that are so often cloud-wrapped for long periods. We see nothing a our noses.
We not turn into the teeth of the which we us. To meet them in this would have been to death.
Perry was almost overcome by the of our situation. He on his and to pray.
It was the time I had him at his old since my return to Pellucidar, and I had that he had up his little idiosyncrasy; but he hadn't. Far from it.
I let him pray for a time undisturbed, and then as I was about to that we had be pushing along one of the in our let out a that the earth our feet.
It Perry to his as if he had been by a wasp, and sent him ahead through the at a that I must soon end in were it not checked.
Crevasses in the glacier-ice were too to permit of speed in a clear atmosphere, and then there were along the of which our way often us. I as I of the old fellow's peril.
At the top of my I called to him to stop, but he did not answer me. And then I on in the direction he had gone, by than safety dictated.
For a while I I him ahead of me, but at last, though I paused often to and to call to him, I nothing more, not the of the that had been us. All was silence—the of the tomb. About me the thick, fog.
I was alone. Perry was gone—gone forever, I had not the doubt.
Somewhere near by the mouth of a fissure, and at its all that was of my old friend, Abner Perry. There would his be in its for ages, until on some day the slow-moving river of ice had its snail-like way to the level, there to its of tragedy, and what in that age, might mystery.
