FROM PLIGHT TO PLIGHT
I have been much of a runner; I running. But if a into all world's records it was I that day when I those along the narrow of two narrow toward the Sojar Az. Just as I the of the the of the was upon me. He and closed his upon my shoulder.
The of his body, added to that of my own, the two of us over the cliff. It was a fall. The was almost perpendicular. At its the sea against a solid of rock.
We the cliff-face once in our and then into the salt sea. With the impact with the water the his upon my shoulder.
As I came to the surface I looked about for some foot- or hand-hold where I might for a moment of and recuperation. The itself offered me nothing, so I toward the mouth of the fiord.
At the end I see that from above had to a narrow of beach. Toward this I with all my strength. Not once did I look me, since every movement in so much from one's and speed. Not until I had myself safely out upon the beach did I turn my toward the sea for the hyaenodon. He was slowly and toward the beach upon which I stood.
I him for a long time, why it was that such a animal was not a swimmer. As he me I that he was rapidly. I had a of to be for his when he landed, but in a moment I let them from my hands. It was that the either was no or else was injured, for by now he was making no headway. Indeed, it was with that he his nose above the surface of the sea.
He was not more than fifty yards from when he under. I the spot where he had disappeared, and in a moment I saw his reappear. The look of in his a in my breast, for I love dogs. I that he was a vicious, wolf-thing—a man-eater, a scourge, and a terror. I saw only the sad that looked like the of Raja, my of the world.
I did not stop to and consider. In other words, I did not stop to think, which I must be the way of men who do things—in to those who think much and do nothing. Instead, I into the water and out toward the beast. At he his teeth at my approach, but just I him he under for the second time, so that I had to to him.
I him by the of the neck, and though he as much as a Shetland pony, I managed to him to and well up upon the beach. Here I that one of his was broken—the crash against the cliff-face must have done it.
By this time all the was out of him, so that when I had a from some of the trees that in the of the cliff, and returned to him he permitted me to set his leg and it in splints. I had to tear part of my shirt into to obtain a bandage, but at last the job was done. Then I sat the and talking to the in the man-dog talk with which you are familiar, if you owned and loved a dog.
When he is well, I thought, he will turn upon me and attempt to me, and against that I together a of and set to work to fashion a stone-knife. We were up at the of the as as if we had been prison bars. Before us spread the Sojar Az, and about us rose cliffs.
Fortunately a little the of the wall, us supply of fresh water—some of which I the in a huge, bowl-shaped shell, of which there were numbers among the of the beach.
For food we upon and an occasional bird that I succeeded in over with a rock, for long as a on prep-school and had me an excellent with a hand-thrown missile.
It was not long the hyaenodon's leg was to permit him to and about on three legs. I shall with what I his attempt. Close at my hand my of rocks. Slowly the came to his three good feet. He himself, his head, and water from the drinking-shell at his side, and looked at me, and then off toward the cliffs.
Thrice he the entire of our prison, seeking, I imagine, a loop-hole for escape, but none he returned in my direction. Slowly he came close to me, at my shoes, my puttees, my hands, and then off a and again.
Now that he was able to around, I was a little as to the of my mercy.
How I sleep with that thing about the narrow of our prison?
Should I close my it might be to open them again to the of those at my throat. To say the least, I was uncomfortable.
I have had too much with animals to bank very on any of which may be to them by sentimentalists. I that some animals love their masters, but I very much if their is the outcome of gratitude—a that is so as to be only occasionally in the of man himself.
But I was to sleep. Tired nature would be put off no longer. I asleep, nilly, as I sat looking out to sea. I had been very since my in the ocean, for though I see the on the water half-way toward the and upon the itself, no of it upon us. We were well the Land of Awful Shadow. A half-warmth the atmosphere, but was slow in drying, and so from of sleep and great physical discomfort, I at last gave way to nature's and into slumber.
When I it was with a start, for a was upon me. My was that the had at last me, but as my opened and I to rise, I saw that a man was me and three others close above him.
I am no weakling—and have been. My in the hard life of the world has my to steel. Even such as Ghak the Hairy One have my strength; but to it is added another quality which they lack—science.
The man upon me me awkwardly, me many openings—one of which I was not slow in taking of, so that almost the that I was I was upon my with my arms over his and about his and had him over my to the hard of the beach, where he still.
In the that I I had the asleep a a yards away. So nearly was he the color of the that he was discernible. Evidently the had not him.
I had not more than myself from one of my the other three were upon me. They did not work now, but me with cries—a mistake upon their part. The that they did not their against me me that they to take me alive; but I as as if death and sure.
The was short, for had their wild through the fiord, and they had closed upon me, than a of among us.
It was the hyaenodon!
In an he had one of the men, and with a single shake, terrier-like, had his neck. Then he was upon another. In their to the wolf-dog the all about me, thus me an in which to a knife from the loin-string of him who had and account for another of them. Almost the the enemy, his with a single bite of those jaws.
The was over—unless the me prey, too. I waited, for him with knife and bludgeon—also from a foeman; but he paid no attention to me, to work to one of the corpses.
The been but little by his leg; but having he and to at the bandage. I was some little away shellfish, of which, by the way, I was tired.
Presently, the and came toward me. I did not move. He stopped in of me and his leg and my knee. His act was as as words—he the removed.
I took the great in one hand and with the other hand and the bandage, the and of the member. As as I judge the was knit. The joint was stiff; when I it a little the winced—but he neither to away. Very slowly and I the joint and pressure to it for a moments.
Then I set it upon the ground. The walked around me a times, and then at my side, his mine. I my hand upon his head. He did not move. Slowly, I about his ears and and the jaws. The only he gave was to his a that I might him.
That was enough! From that moment I have again of Raja, as I named him. Somehow all of vanished, too—I had a dog! I had what it was that was to life in Pellucidar, but now I it was the total of animals.
Man here had not yet the point where he might take the time from and to make friends with any of the creation. I must this a and say that this was true of those with which I was most familiar. The Thurians do the lidi, the great Lidi Plains upon the of these and monsters, and possibly there may also be other, far-distant the great world, who have others of the wild of jungle, plain or mountain.
The Thurians in a of way. It is my opinion that this is one of the steps from to civilization. The of wild and their follows.
Perry that wild dogs were for purposes; but I do not agree with him. I that if their were not purely the result of an accident, as, for example, my of the hyaenodon, it came about through the of who had and to have some strong, to their property. However, I more to the of accident.
As I sat there upon the beach of the little my shell-fish, I to wonder how it had been that the four had been able to me, though I had been unable to from my natural prison. I about in all directions, for an explanation. At last my upon the of a small a from a large in the water at the of the beach.
At my I to my so that it Raja, and bristling, upon all in an instant. For the moment I had him. But his did not me any uneasiness. He about in all as if for the of my excitement. Then, as I walked toward the dugout, he after me.
The was in many respects to those which I had in use by the Mezops. In it were four paddles. I was much delighted, as it offered me the I had been craving.
I pushed it out into water that would it, in and called to Raja to enter. At he did not to what I of him, but after I had out a yards he through the and after me. When he had come alongside I the of his neck, and after a struggle, in which I times came near to the canoe, I managed to him aboard, where he himself and me.
After from the fiord, I along the coast, where presently the gave way to and more level country. It was here that I should come upon the village of the Thurians. When, after a time, I saw in the what I took to be in a near the shore, I into land, for though I had been by Kolk, I was not familiar with the of these people to know I should a welcome or not; and in case I should not, I wanted to be sure of having a safely away so that I might the to the island, in any event—provided, of course, that I the Thurians should they prove belligerent.
At the point where I the was low. A of pale, ran almost to the beach. Here I up the dugout, it well the vegetation, and with some a upon the beach to mark my cache. Then I my steps toward the Thurian village.
As I I to upon the possible of Raja when we should enter the presence of other men than myself. The was at my side, his nose and his moving from to side—nothing would take Raja unawares!
The more I upon the the my perturbation. I did not want Raja to attack any of the people upon I so depended, did I want him or by them.
I if Raja would for a leash. His as he me was level with my hip. I my hand upon it caressingly. As I did so he and looked up into my face, his and his red as you have your own dog's a love pat.
"Just been waiting all your life to be and loved, haven't you, old man?" I asked. "You're nothing but a good pup, and the man who put the in your name ought to be for libel."
Raja his with upcurled, and my hand.
"You're grinning, you old fraud, you!" I cried. "If you're not, I'll eat you. I'll a you're nothing but some kid's old Fido, around as a real, live man-eater."
Raja whined. And so we walked on together toward Thuria—I talking to the at my side, and he to my company no less than I his. If you don't think it's all by through savage, unknown Pellucidar, why, just try it, and you will not wonder that I was of the company of this dog—this of the and now of the that in the great across the of southern France, in the days when the at will over the of which the British Isles were then a part, and left his and his in the of Atlantis as well.
Thus I as we moved on toward Thuria. My was by a from Raja. I looked at him. He had stopped in his as one to stone. A thin of along the entire length of his spine. His yellow green were upon the at our right.
I my in the at his and my in the direction that his pointed. At I saw nothing. Then a movement of the my attention. I it must be some wild beast, and was of the I had taken from the of the who had me.
Presently I two at us from the vegetation. I took a step in their direction, and as I did so a and in the direction we had been going. Raja to be after him, but I to his neck, an act which he did not to relish, for he on me with fangs.
I that now was as good a time as any to just how was Raja's for me. One of us be master, and I was the one. He at me. I him across the nose. He looked it me for a moment in bewilderment, and then he again. I another at him, that it would him at my throat; but he and down.
Raja was subdued!
I and him. Then I took a piece of the rope that a part of my and a for him.
Thus we our toward Thuria. The who had us was of the Thurians. That he had no time in and the word of my was when we had come of the clearing, and the village—the village, by the way, that I had by Pellucidarians. There was a with and boulders, in which were a hundred or more of construction. There was no gate. Ladders that be by night over the palisade.
Before the village were assembled a great of warriors. Inside I see the of and children over the top of the wall; and also, back, the long necks of lidi, by their heads. Lidi, by the way, is the and of the that the of of the Thurians. They are quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred long, with very small at the top of very long, necks. Their are from the ground. Their is slow and deliberate, but so are their that, as a of fact, they the ground rapidly.
Perry has told me that they are almost with the of the of the crust's Jurassic age. I have to take his word for it—and I you will, unless you know more of such than I.
As we came in of the the men set up a great jabbering. Their were wide in astonishment—not only, I presume, of my garmenture, but as well from the that I came in company with a jalok, which is the Pellucidarian name of the hyaenodon.
Raja at his leash, and his long white fangs. He would have liked nothing than to be at the of the whole aggregation; but I him in with the leash, though it took all my to do it. My free hand I above my head, out, in of the of my mission.
In the I saw the who had us, and I tell from the way he himself that he was overcome by his own importance. The about him were all looking fellows, though and than the Sarians or the Amozites. Their color, too, was a lighter, owing, no doubt, to the that much of their is the of the world that above their country.
A little in of the others was a out in many ornaments. I didn't need to ask to know that he was the chieftain—doubtless Goork, father of Kolk. Now to him I myself.
"I am David," I said, "Emperor of the Federated Kingdoms of Pellucidar. Doubtless you have of me?"
He his affirmatively.
"I come from Sari," I continued, "where I just met Kolk, the son of Goork. I a from Kolk to his father, which will prove that I am a friend."
Again the nodded. "I am Goork," he said. "Where is the token?"
"Here," I replied, and into the game-bag where I had it.
Goork and his people waited in silence. My hand the of the bag.
It was empty!
The had been with my arms!
