A PENDENT WORLD
The Mahars set me free as they had promised, but with to approach Phutra or any other Mahar city. They also it perfectly plain that they me a creature, and that having the clean in so as they were under to me, they now me prey. Should I again into their hands, they it would go with me.
They would not tell me in which direction Hooja had set with Dian, so I from Phutra, with against the Mahars, and toward the Sly One who had once again me of my treasure.
At I was to go directly to Anoroc; but upon second my toward Sari, as I that in that direction Hooja would travel, his own country in that direction.
Of my to Sari it is only necessary to say that it was with the and adventure, to all travel across the of Pellucidar. The dangers, however, were through the medium of my armament. I often how it had that I had the ten years of my life the world, when, and armed, I had great of her beast-ridden surface.
With the of my map, which I had with great my with the Sagoths in search of the great secret, I at Sari at last. As I the in the of Sarians their cave-homes, a great and from those who me.
Like from their the from their caves. The with their poison-tipped arrows, which I had them to fashion and to use, were against me. Swords of iron—another of my innovations—menaced me, as with the down.
It was a moment. Before I should be I might be dead. It was that all of relationship had with my going, and that my people had to their savage, of all strangers. My must have puzzled them, too, for of had they a man in and puttees.
Leaning my against my I hands aloft. It was the peace-sign that is upon the surface of Pellucidar. The paused and me. I looked for my friend Ghak, the Hairy One, king of Sari, and presently I saw him from a distance. Ah, but it was good to see his mighty, once more! A friend was Ghak—a friend well the having; and it had been some time since I had a friend.
Shouldering his way through the of warriors, the toward me. There was an of upon his features. He the space the and myself, me.
I did not speak. I did not smile. I wanted to see if Ghak, my lieutenant, would me. For some time he there looking me over carefully. His took in my large helmet, my jacket, and of cartridges, the two at my hips, the large against my body. Still I with my hands above my head. He my and my shoes—a little the for wear now. Then he up once more to my face. As his rested there for some moments I saw with across his countenance.
Presently without a word he took one of my hands in his and to one my to his lips. Perry had them this trick, did the most of all the of Europe perform the little act of with and dignity.
Quickly I Ghak to his feet, his hands in mine. I think there must have been in my then—I know I too full for words. The king of Sari toward his warriors.
"Our has come back," he announced. "Come and—"
But he got no further, for the that from those would have the voice of itself. I had how much they of me. As they around, almost for the to my hand, I saw again the of which I had forever.
With such as these I a world. With such as these I would one! If the Sarians had loyal, so too would the Amozites be still, and the Kalians, and the Suvians, and all the great who had the that was to the of Pellucidar.
Perry was safe with the Mezops; I was safe with the Sarians; now if Dian were but safe with me the would look indeed.
It did not take long to to Ghak all that had me since I had from Pellucidar, and to to the of Dian, which to me at that moment was of than the very itself.
When I told him that Hooja had her, he his in rage.
"It is always the Sly One!" he cried. "It was Hooja who the trouble you and the Beautiful One.
"It was Hooja who our trust, and all but our by the Sagoths that time we from Phutra.
"It was Hooja who you and a Mahar for Dian when you started upon your return to your own world.
"It was Hooja who and until he had the one against another and the federation.
"When we had him in our power we were to let him live. Next time—"
Ghak did not need to his sentence.
"He has a very powerful enemy now," I replied. "That he is in some way with the Mahars is by the of his relations with the Sagoths who were me in search of the great secret, for it must have been Hooja I saw with them just we the valley. Doubtless they told him of our and he on ahead of us, the and the document. Well he his of the Sly One."
With Ghak and his men I a number of consultations. The of them was a to our search for Dian with an attempt to the federation. To this end twenty were in to ten of the leading kingdoms, with to make every to the of Hooja and Dian, while their to the to they were sent.
Ghak was to at home to the which we to come to Sari on the of the federation. Four hundred were started for Anoroc to Perry and the of the prospector, to the of the empire, which was also the settlements of the Sarians.
At it was that I at Sari, that I might be in to at the report of the of Dian; but I the in the of my for the of my so that had the upon their I, too, to be upon the search.
It was after my second sleep, to the of the warriors, as I recall, that I at last to Ghak with the that I no longer support the to be personally upon the of my love.
Ghak to me, though I tell that his was with me in my wish to be away and doing something. It was while we were upon the that a stranger, with hands above his head, entered the village. He was by and to Ghak's presence.
The was a man-squat muscular, and hairy, and of a type I had not before. His features, like those of all the men of Pellucidar, were regular and fine. His of a ax and knife and a of wood. His skin was very white.
"Who are you?" asked Ghak. "And come you?"
"I am Kolk, son of Goork, who is of the Thurians," the stranger. "From Thuria I have come in search of the land of Amoz, where Dacor, the Strong One, who my sister, Canda, the Grace-ful One, to be his mate.
"We of Thuria had of a great who has together many tribes, and my father has sent me to Dacor to learn if there be truth in these stories, and if so to offer the services of Thuria to him we have called emperor."
"The are true," Ghak, "and here is the of you have heard. You need travel no farther."
Kolk was delighted. He told us much of the of Thuria, the Land of Awful Shadow, and of his long in search of Amoz.
"And why," I asked, "does Goork, your father, to join his to the empire?"
"There are two reasons," the man. "Forever have the Mahars, who the Lidi Plains which at the of the Land of Awful Shadow, taken of our people, they either into or for their feasts. We have that the great makes successful upon the Mahars, against we should be to fight.
"Recently has another come. Upon a great which in the Sojar Az, but a from our shores, a man has a great of of all tribes. Even are there many Sagoths among them, sent by the Mahars to the Wicked One.
"This makes upon our villages, and it is in size and strength, for the Mahars give to any of their male who will promise to with this against the of the Mahars. It is the purpose of the Mahars thus to a of our own to the and of the new of which I have come to information. All this we learned from one of our own who had to with this and had then at the opportunity."
"Who this man be," I asked Ghak, "who leads so a movement against his own kind?"
"His name is Hooja," spoke up Kolk, my question.
Ghak and I looked at each other. Relief was upon his and I know that it was in my heart. At last we had a to the of Hooja—and with the a guide!
But when I the to Kolk he demurred. He had come a long way, he explained, to see his sister and to with Dacor. Moreover, he had from his father which he not lightly. But so he would return with me and me the way to the of the Thurian if by doing so we might anything.
"But we cannot," he urged. "Hooja is powerful. He has thousands of warriors. He has only to call upon his Mahar to a of Sagoths to do his against his enemies.
"Let us wait until you may an equal from the of your empire. Then we may against Hooja with some of success.
"But must you him to the mainland, for who among you how to the that Hooja and his and across the water?
"We are not people. We do not go upon the water. We know nothing of such things."
I couldn't him to do more than direct me upon the way. I him my map, which now a great area of country from Anoroc upon the east to Sari upon the west, and from the river south of the Mountains of the Clouds north to Amoz. As soon as I had it to him he a line with his finger, a sea-coast to the west and south of Sari, and a great circle which he said marked the of the Land of Awful Shadow in which Thuria.
The of the out into the sea half-way to a large island, which he said was the seat of Hooja's government. The itself in the light of the sun. Northwest of the and a part of Thuria the Lidi Plains, upon the of which was the Mahar city which took such of the Thurians.
Thus were the people now two fires, with Hooja upon one and the Mahars upon the other. I did not wonder that they sent out an for succor.
Though Ghak and Kolk to me, I was to set out at once, did I longer than to make a copy of my map to be to Perry that he might add to his that which I had set since we parted. I left a for him as well, in which among other I the that the Sojar Az, or Great Sea, which Kolk mentioned as from Thuria, might be the same as that which, around the southern end of a ran along the opposite Phutra, its with the upon which Sari, Amoz, and Greenwich.
Against this possibility I him to the of a of small sailing-vessels, which we might should I it to Hooja's to the mainland.
I told Ghak what I had written, and that as soon as he he should make new with the of the empire, an army and toward Thuria—this of against the possibility of my through some or other.
Kolk gave me a to his father—a lidi, or of burden, upon a of bone, and the a man and a flower; all very done perhaps, but none the less as I well from my long years among the men of Pellucidar.
The is the of the Thurians; the man and the flower in the in which they appeared a significance, as they not only a message to the that the came in peace, but were also Kolk's signature.
And so, with my and my small arsenal, I set out alone upon my for the girl in this world or yours.
Kolk gave me directions, though with my map I do not that I have gone wrong. As a of I did not need the map at all, since the of the of my journey, a mountain-peak, was visible from Sari, though a good hundred miles away.
At the southern of this a river rose and ran in a direction, south and into the Sojar Az some miles of Thuria. All that I had to do was this river to the sea and then the to Thuria.
Two hundred and miles of wild and jungle, of plain, of rivers, of and ahead of me, yet had I been more for an than now, for had more upon and success.
I do not know how long a time that required, and only did I the that each new me, for my mind and were with but a single image—that of a perfect girl great, dark looked from a of hair.
It was not until I had passed the high and the river that my the world, the which low over the surface of Pellucidar its always upon the same spot—the area that is here as the Land of Awful Shadow, in which the of Thuria.
From the and the of the where I the Pellucidarian moon in and in shadow, while directly it was visible the dark spot upon the surface of Pellucidar where the sun has shone. From where I the moon appeared to so low above the ground as almost to touch it; but later I was to learn that it a mile above the surface—which close for a moon.
Following the river I soon of the as I entered the of a forest. Nor did I catch another of it for some time—several at least. However, when the river me to the sea, or just it the sea, of a the sky and the size and of the as by magic—as if an omni-potent hand had a line upon the earth, and said:
"Upon this shall the trees and the shrubs, the and the flowers, in of rich colors, size and abundance; and upon that shall they be and and scant."
Instantly I looked above, for clouds are so in the of Pellucidar—they are unknown above the ranges—that it had me something of a start to the sun obliterated. But I was not long in to a of the of the shadow.
Above me another world. I see its and valleys, oceans, lakes, and rivers, its broad, and forests. But too great was the and too the of its under for me to any movement as of animal life.
Instantly a great was me. The questions which the of this planet, so close, in my mind were and unanswerable.
Was it inhabited?
If so, by what manner and of creature?
Were its people as as their little world, or were they as as the of upon the surface of their would permit of their being?
As I it, I saw that it was upon an that to the surface of Pellucidar, so that each its entire surface was once to the world and once in the of the great sun above. The little world had that which Pellucidar not have—a day and night, and—greatest of to one outer-earthly born—time.
Here I saw a to give time to Pellucidar, using this clock, in the heavens, to record the passage of the hours for the earth below. Here should be an observatory, from which might be by to every of the the time once each day. That this time would be easily I had no doubt, since so plain were the upon the under surface of the that it would be but necessary to a and mark the of passage of a across the instrument.
But then was not the time for dreaming; I must my mind to the purpose of my journey. So I the great shadow. As I I not but note the nature of the and the of its hues.
The river me a the it into the Sojar Az. Then I in a direction along the toward the village of Thuria, where I to Goork and deliver to him my credentials.
I had no great from the mouth of the river when I discerned, some at sea, a great island. This I to be the of Hooja, did I that upon it now was Dian.
The way was most difficult, since after the river I by long, narrow fiords, each of which a detour. As the it is about twenty miles from the mouth of the river to Thuria, but I had of it I was fagged. There was no familiar fruit or vegetable upon the of the cliff-tops, and I would have for food had not a almost my nose.
I and to my ammunition-supply, but so quick was the little animal that I had no time to and fit a shaft. In my dinner was a hundred yards away and going like the when I my six-shooter on it. It was a and when with a good dinner me with myself.
After I and slept. When I I was so self-satisfied, for I had not more than opened my I aware of the presence, a hundred yards from me, of a pack of some twenty wolf-dogs—the which Perry upon calling hyaenodons—and almost I that while I slept my revolvers, rifle, bow, arrows, and knife had been from me.
And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to me.