Pellucidar

long I could not even guess. A great Sagoth came and spoke some words of command to those who watched over

r, pushed and shoved roughly, along in the same direction that the mob moved. I had seen such a concourse of people once before in the bur

treme end of the arena. The queen came, with her slimy, sickenin

tructure, a girl was led into the arena. She was at a co

e, or rather, my thought of it, was submerged in the natural pity I felt for this lone girl, doomed to die horribly beneath

the huge cave tiger of the Stone Age. At my sides were my revolvers. My captors had not taken them from me, because they did not yet realize their nature. Dou

pin would have been almost as effective agains

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

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 mons

me to the Mahar. That is, they were accustomed to look upon man as a lower animal before Perry and I broke through the Pellucidarian crust, but I imagine that they w

ong strides, a prodigious leap, and he would be upon the girl. I raised a revolver and fired. The bullet struck hi

one of the most terrible sights in the world. Especially if he be sna

brute to her face. Hers was fastened upon me with an expression of incredu

ied. "My Hea

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

dars-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

himself for a final charge upon me. They buried their talons in his back and lifte

ould i

ian's side. With a little cry of delight she threw herself into my arms. So lost were we i

s to follow them. They led us from the arena and back through the streets of Phutra to the audience chamb

en spared because at the last moment Tu-al-sa had returned to Phutra, a

u-al-sa?"

as-ages ago-the last of the male ru

wish to have m

. When the latter had explained in the strange sign-language that passes for s

her or abandoned her in a strange world-but you did neither. You did not harm her, and you bro

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 h

d while we were incarcerated in Phutra, that they were a just race, and that in certain branches of science

hich, by the way, they do not at all resemble-I was now forced to a realization of the fact that I was in th

r order, and so as we are unable to place ourselves in the position of the brutes we enslave-thinking that they are happier in bondage than in the free fulfilment of the purposes for which nature inten

's debt of gratitude was canceled. They still had against me, however, the crime of which I had been guilty-the unforgivable crim

s document from its hiding-place, keeping Dian at Phutra as a hostage and rel

re at stake than the liberty or even the lives of Dian and myself, that I did not

n the little cave of a far-off valley where Dian and I had spent our honeymoon. I was none too sure that I could find the valley again, nor that I cared to. So long as the po

as much

ish with the inventions of your own world. Now you have returned with all that

ich would cast a bursting ball of metal among o

housand men armed with big and little engines such a

across the water without paddles, and w

o the men of Pellucidar. Wh

e by thousands. They will be helpless befo

prisoner in Phutra, w

of Pellucidar do wit

of what value would the emancipation of the human race be to them without the knowledge, which you alone may wield, to guide them toward t

. Let them have their secret that you and I may return to o

t dulled her reasoning faculties. She was right. Nothing could be

peace. He could never weld the warring factions of the disrupted federation. He could never win new tribes to the empire. He would fiddle around manufacturing gun-powder and trying

e were going to do anything for Pelluc

treated and protected from every indignity during my absence. So I set out with a hundred Sagoths in sea

y express rifle, for which I was very thankful. I found it lying where I had left it when I ha

the human race of Pellucidar had little to fear from these gorilla-men. They were fighters-that was all. We might even use them la

me more and more confident of success. Every landmark was familiar t

hey were marching across our front. At sight of us they halted; that there would be a fight I could not doubt.

ey must have been members of the federation, for only my people had been thus equipped. Before P

ting battle. With savage shouts they r

to meet him. There was a long parley during which I could see that I was often the subject of their discourse. The Sagoths' leader pointed in the directio

e upon such excellent te

d left me in the rear with a guard when they had advanced to battle, and the dis

stood with my guard. It was time for eating, so we stopped where we were and made our meal. The Sagoths

g of our journey. I found the valley without difficulty and led my guard

re. Presently my hands came to the spot where the great secret had been buried. There was a cavity wh

ver, but without other result than a complete confirmation of my wors

it, which was quite improbable, the chances were that the dominant race would never divulge the fact that they had recovered the precious document. If

. It didn't mean much to the fellow, who doubt-less had but little better idea of the contents of the docum

ans to destroy them all. I did not dare rebel because of the consequences to Dian. I intended demanding her release on the grounds that she was in no way guilty of the theft, and that my failure to

he Sagoth chieftain, and so difficult is it to judge their emotions from their almost expressionless countenance, that I was at a loss to know ho

warning of the fate which lay in store for me. One thing I had decided definitely: If they would not free Dian I should turn loose upon Phutra with my little arsenal. Al

ment is lost with your action in sending it to them by a special messenger. They wi

ment," I cried. "Ask

utra, Hooja the Sly One came, bringing the great secret with him. He said that you had sent him ahead wi

ars have given over Dian i

? She is only a gilak," as you or