CHAPTER VI
A PENDENT WORLD
The Mahars set me free as they had promised, but with strictinjunctions never to approach Phutra or any other Mahar city. Theyalso made it perfectly plain that they considered me a dangerouscreature, and that having wiped the slate clean in so far as they wereunder obligations to me, they now considered me fair prey. Should Iagain fall into their hands, they intimated it would go ill with me.
They would not tell me in which direction Hooja had set forth withDian, so I departed from Phutra, filled with bitterness against theMahars, and rage toward the Sly One who had once again robbed me of mygreatest treasure.
At first I was minded to go directly back to Anoroc; but upon secondthought turned my face toward Sari, as I felt that somewhere in thatdirection Hooja would travel, his own country lying in that generaldirection.
Of my journey to Sari it is only necessary to say that it was fraughtwith the usual excitement and adventure, incident to all travel acrossthe face of savage Pellucidar. The dangers, however, were greatlyreduced through the medium of my armament. I often wondered how it hadhappened that I had ever survived the first ten years of my life withinthe inner world, when, naked and primitively armed, I had traversedgreat areas of her beast-ridden surface.
With the aid of my map, which I had kept with great care during mymarch with the Sagoths in search of the great secret, I arrived at Sariat last. As I topped the lofty plateau in whose rocky cliffs theprincipal tribe of Sarians find their cave-homes, a great hue and cryarose from those who first discovered me.
Like wasps from their nests the hairy warriors poured from their caves.The bows with their poison-tipped arrows, which I had taught them tofashion and to use, were raised against me. Swords of hammerediron--another of my innovations--menaced me, as with lusty shouts thehorde charged down.
It was a critical moment. Before I should be recognized I might bedead. It was evident that all semblance of intertribal relationshiphad ceased with my going, and that my people had reverted to theirformer savage, suspicious hatred of all strangers. My garb must havepuzzled them, too, for never before of course had they seen a manclothed in khaki and puttees.
Leaning my express rifle against my body I raised both hands aloft. Itwas the peace-sign that is recognized everywhere upon the surface ofPellucidar. The charging warriors paused and surveyed me. I lookedfor my friend Ghak, the Hairy One, king of Sari, and presently I sawhim coming from a distance. Ah, but it was good to see his mighty,hairy form once more! A friend was Ghak--a friend well worth thehaving; and it had been some time since I had seen a friend.
Shouldering his way through the throng of warriors, the mightychieftain advanced toward me. There was an expression of puzzlementupon his fine features. He crossed the space between the warriors andmyself, halting before me.
I did not speak. I did not even smile. I wanted to see if Ghak, myprincipal lieutenant, would recognize me. For some time he stood therelooking me over carefully. His eyes took in my large pith helmet, mykhaki jacket, and bandoleers of cartridges, the two revolvers swingingat my hips, the large rifle resting against my body. Still I stoodwith my hands above my head. He examined my puttees and my strong tanshoes--a little the worse for wear now. Then he glanced up once moreto my face. As his gaze rested there quite steadily for some moments Isaw recognition tinged with awe creep across his countenance.
Presently without a word he took one of my hands in his and dropping toone knee raised my fingers to his lips. Perry had taught them thistrick, nor ever did the most polished courtier of all the grand courtsof Europe perform the little act of homage with greater grace anddignity.
Quickly I raised Ghak to his feet, clasping both his hands in mine. Ithink there must have been tears in my eyes then--I know I felt toofull for words. The king of Sari turned toward his warriors.
"Our emperor has come back," he announced. "Come hither and--"
But he got no further, for the shouts that broke from those savagethroats would have drowned the voice of heaven itself. I had neverguessed how much they thought of me. As they clustered around, almostfighting for the chance to kiss my hand, I saw again the vision ofempire which I had thought faded forever.
With such as these I could conquer a world. With such as these I WOULDconquer one! If the Sarians had remained loyal, so too would theAmozites be loyal still, and the Kalians, and the Suvians, and all thegreat tribes who had formed the federation that was to emancipate thehuman race of Pellucidar.
Perry was safe with the Mezops; I was safe with the Sarians; now ifDian were but safe with me the future would look bright indeed.
It did not take long to outline to Ghak all that had befallen me sinceI had departed from Pellucidar, and to get down to the business offinding Dian, which to me at that moment was of even greater importancethan the very empire itself.
When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, he stamped his foot in rage.
"It is always the Sly One!" he cried. "It was Hooja who caused thefirst trouble between you and the Beautiful One.
"It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all but caused our recaptureby the Sagoths that time we escaped from Phutra.
"It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted a Mahar for Dian when youstarted upon your return journey to your own world.
"It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he had turned the kingdoms oneagainst another and destroyed the federation.
"When we had him in our power we were foolish to let him live. Nexttime--"
Ghak did not need to finish his sentence.
"He has become a very powerful enemy now," I replied. "That he isallied in some way with the Mahars is evidenced by the familiarity ofhis relations with the Sagoths who were accompanying me in search ofthe great secret, for it must have been Hooja whom I saw conversingwith them just before we reached the valley. Doubtless they told himof our quest and he hastened on ahead of us, discovered the cave andstole the document. Well does he deserve his appellation of the SlyOne."
With Ghak and his head men I held a number of consultations. Theupshot of them was a decision to combine our search for Dian with anattempt to rebuild the crumbled federation. To this end twentywarriors were despatched in pairs to ten of the leading kingdoms, withinstructions to make every effort to discover the whereabouts of Hoojaand Dian, while prosecuting their missions to the chieftains to whomthey were sent.
Ghak was to remain at home to receive the various delegations which weinvited to come to Sari on the business of the federation. Fourhundred warriors were started for Anoroc to fetch Perry and thecontents of the prospector, to the capitol of the empire, which wasalso the principal settlements of the Sarians.
At first it was intended that I remain at Sari, that I might be inreadiness to hasten forth at the first report of the discovery of Dian;but I found the inaction in the face of my deep solicitude for thewelfare of my mate so galling that scarce had the several unitsdeparted upon their missions before I, too, chafed to be activelyengaged upon the search.
It was after my second sleep, subsequent to the departure of thewarriors, as I recall, that I at last went to Ghak with the admissionthat I could no longer support the intolerable longing to be personallyupon the trail of my lost love.
Ghak tried to dissuade me, though I could tell that his heart was withme in my wish to be away and really doing something. It was while wewere arguing upon the subject that a stranger, with hands above hishead, entered the village. He was immediately surrounded by warriorsand conducted to Ghak's presence.
The fellow was a typical cave man-squat muscular, and hairy, and of atype I had not seen before. His features, like those of all theprimeval men of Pellucidar, were regular and fine. His weaponsconsisted of a stone ax and knife and a heavy knobbed bludgeon of wood.His skin was very white.
"Who are you?" asked Ghak. "And whence come you?"
"I am Kolk, son of Goork, who is chief of the Thurians," replied thestranger. "From Thuria I
have come in search of the land of Amoz,where dwells Dacor, the Strong One, who stole my sister, Canda, theGrace-ful One, to be his mate.
"We of Thuria had heard of a great chieftain who has bound togethermany tribes, and my father has sent me to Dacor to learn if there betruth in these stories, and if so to offer the services of Thuria tohim whom we have heard called emperor."
"The stories are true," replied Ghak, "and here is the emperor of whomyou have heard. You need travel no farther."
Kolk was delighted. He told us much of the wonderful resources ofThuria, the Land of Awful Shadow, and of his long journey in search ofAmoz.
"And why," I asked, "does Goork, your father, desire to join hiskingdom to the empire?"
"There are two reasons," replied the young man. "Forever have theMahars, who dwell beyond the Lidi Plains which lie at the farther rimof the Land of Awful Shadow, taken heavy toll of our people, whom theyeither force into lifelong slavery or fatten for their feasts. We haveheard that the great emperor makes successful war upon the Mahars,against whom we should be glad to fight.
"Recently has another reason come. Upon a great island which lies inthe Sojar Az, but a short distance from our shores, a wicked man hascollected a great band of outcast warriors of all tribes. Even arethere many Sagoths among them, sent by the Mahars to aid the Wicked One.
"This band makes raids upon our villages, and it is constantly growingin size and strength, for the Mahars give liberty to any of their maleprisoners who will promise to fight with this band against the enemiesof the Mahars. It is the purpose of the Mahars thus to raise a forceof our own kind to combat the growth and menace of the new empire ofwhich I have come to seek information. All this we learned from one ofour own warriors who had pretended to sympathize with this band and hadthen escaped at the first opportunity."
"Who could this man be," I asked Ghak, "who leads so vile a movementagainst his own kind?"
"His name is Hooja," spoke up Kolk, answering my question.
Ghak and I looked at each other. Relief was written upon hiscountenance and I know that it was beating strongly in my heart. Atlast we had discovered a tangible clue to the whereabouts of Hooja--andwith the clue a guide!
But when I broached the subject to Kolk he demurred. He had come along way, he explained, to see his sister and to confer with Dacor.Moreover, he had instructions from his father which he could not ignorelightly. But even so he would return with me and show me the way tothe island of the Thurian shore if by doing so we might accomplishanything.
"But we cannot," he urged. "Hooja is powerful. He has thousands ofwarriors. He has only to call upon his Mahar allies to receive acountless horde of Sagoths to do his bidding against his human enemies.
"Let us wait until you may gather an equal horde from the kingdoms ofyour empire. Then we may march against Hooja with some show of success.
"But first must you lure him to the mainland, for who among you knowshow to construct the strange things that carry Hooja and his band backand forth across the water?
"We are not island people. We do not go upon the water. We knownothing of such things."
I couldn't persuade him to do more than direct me upon the way. Ishowed him my map, which now included a great area of country extendingfrom Anoroc upon the east to Sari upon the west, and from the riversouth of the Mountains of the Clouds north to Amoz. As soon as I hadexplained it to him he drew a line with his finger, showing a sea-coastfar to the west and south of Sari, and a great circle which he saidmarked the extent of the Land of Awful Shadow in which lay Thuria.
The shadow extended southeast of the coast out into the sea half-way toa large island, which he said was the seat of Hooja's traitorousgovernment. The island itself lay in the light of the noonday sun.Northwest of the coast and embracing a part of Thuria lay the LidiPlains, upon the northwestern verge of which was situated the Maharcity which took such heavy toll of the Thurians.
Thus were the unhappy people now between two fires, with Hooja upon oneside and the Mahars upon the other. I did not wonder that they sentout an appeal for succor.
Though Ghak and Kolk both attempted to dissuade me, I was determined toset out at once, nor did I delay longer than to make a copy of my mapto be given to Perry that he might add to his that which I had set downsince we parted. I left a letter for him as well, in which among otherthings I advanced the theory that the Sojar Az, or Great Sea, whichKolk mentioned as stretching eastward from Thuria, might indeed be thesame mighty ocean as that which, swinging around the southern end of acontinent ran northward along the shore opposite Phutra, mingling itswaters with the huge gulf upon which lay Sari, Amoz, and Greenwich.
Against this possibility I urged him to hasten the building of a fleetof small sailing-vessels, which we might utilize should I find itimpossible to entice Hooja's horde to the mainland.
I told Ghak what I had written, and suggested that as soon as he couldhe should make new treaties with the various kingdoms of the empire,collect an army and march toward Thuria--this of course against thepossibility of my detention through some cause or other.
Kolk gave me a sign to his father--a lidi, or beast of burden, crudelyscratched upon a bit of bone, and beneath the lidi a man and a flower;all very rudely done perhaps, but none the less effective as I wellknew from my long years among the primitive men of Pellucidar.
The lidi is the tribal beast of the Thurians; the man and the flower inthe combination in which they appeared bore a double significance, asthey constituted not only a message to the effect that the bearer camein peace, but were also Kolk's signature.
And so, armed with my credentials and my small arsenal, I set out aloneupon my quest for the dearest girl in this world or yours.
Kolk gave me explicit directions, though with my map I do not believethat I could have gone wrong. As a matter of fact I did not need themap at all, since the principal landmark of the first half of myjourney, a gigantic mountain-peak, was plainly visible from Sari, thougha good hundred miles away.
At the southern base of this mountain a river rose and ran in awesterly direction, finally turning south and emptying into the SojarAz some forty miles northeast of Thuria. All that I had to do wasfollow this river to the sea and then follow the coast to Thuria.
Two hundred and forty miles of wild mountain and primeval jungle, ofuntracked plain, of nameless rivers, of deadly swamps and savageforests lay ahead of me, yet never had I been more eager for anadventure than now, for never had more depended upon haste and success.
I do not know how long a time that journey required, and only half didI appreciate the varied wonders that each new march unfolded before me,for my mind and heart were filled with but a single image--that of aperfect girl whose great, dark eyes looked bravely forth from a frameof raven hair.
It was not until I had passed the high peak and found the river that myeyes first discovered the pendent world, the tiny satellite which hangslow over the surface of Pellucidar casting its perpetual shadow alwaysupon the same spot--the area that is known here as the Land of AwfulShadow, in which dwells the tribe of Thuria.
From the distance and the elevation of the highlands where I stood thePellucidarian noonday moon showed half in sunshine and half in shadow,while directly beneath it was plainly visible the round dark spot uponthe surface of Pellucidar where the sun has never shone. From where Istood the moon appeared to hang so low above the ground as almost totouch it; but later I was to learn that it floats a mile above thesurface--which seems indeed quite close for a moon.
Following the river downward I soon lost sight of the tiny planet as Ientered the mazes of a lofty forest. Nor did I catch another glimpseof it for some time--several marches at least. However, when the riverled me to the sea, or rather just before it reached the sea, of asudden the sky became overcast and the size and luxuriance of thevegetation diminished as by magic--as if an omni-potent hand had drawna line upon the earth, and said:
"Upon this side shall the trees and t
he shrubs, the grasses and theflowers, riot in profusion of rich colors, gigantic size andbewildering abundance; and upon that side shall they be dwarfed andpale and scant."
Instantly I looked above, for clouds are so uncommon in the skies ofPellucidar--they are practically unknown except above the mightiestmountain ranges--that it had given me something of a start to discoverthe sun obliterated. But I was not long in coming to a realization ofthe cause of the shadow.
Above me hung another world. I could see its mountains and valleys,oceans, lakes, and rivers, its broad, grassy plains and dense forests.But too great was the distance and too deep the shadow of its underside for me to distinguish any movement as of animal life.
Instantly a great curiosity was awakened within me. The questionswhich the sight of this planet, so tantalizingly close, raised in mymind were numerous and unanswerable.
Was it inhabited?
If so, by what manner and form of creature?
Were its people as relatively diminutive as their little world, or werethey as disproportionately huge as the lesser attraction of gravityupon the surface of their globe would permit of their being?
As I watched it, I saw that it was revolving upon an axis that layparallel to the surface of Pellucidar, so that during each revolutionits entire surface was once exposed to the world below and once bathedin the heat of the great sun above. The little world had that whichPellucidar could not have--a day and night, and--greatest of boons toone outer-earthly born--time.
Here I saw a chance to give time to Pellucidar, using this mightyclock, revolving perpetually in the heavens, to record the passage ofthe hours for the earth below. Here should be located an observatory,from which might be flashed by wireless to every corner of the empirethe correct time once each day. That this time would be easilymeasured I had no doubt, since so plain were the landmarks upon theunder surface of the satellite that it would be but necessary to erecta simple instrument and mark the instant of passage of a given landmarkacross the instrument.
But then was not the time for dreaming; I must devote my mind to thepurpose of my journey. So I hastened onward beneath the great shadow.As I advanced I could not but note the changing nature of thevegetation and the paling of its hues.
The river led me a short distance within the shadow before it emptiedinto the Sojar Az. Then I continued in a southerly direction along thecoast toward the village of Thuria, where I hoped to find Goork anddeliver to him my credentials.
I had progressed no great distance from the mouth of the river when Idiscerned, lying some distance at sea, a great island. This I assumedto be the stronghold of Hooja, nor did I doubt that upon it even nowwas Dian.
The way was most difficult, since shortly after leaving the river Iencountered lofty cliffs split by numerous long, narrow fiords, each ofwhich necessitated a considerable detour. As the crow flies it isabout twenty miles from the mouth of the river to Thuria, but before Ihad covered half of it I was fagged. There was no familiar fruit orvegetable growing upon the rocky soil of the cliff-tops, and I wouldhave fared ill for food had not a hare broken cover almost beneath mynose.
I carried bow and arrows to conserve my ammunition-supply, but so quickwas the little animal that I had no time to draw and fit a shaft. Infact my dinner was a hundred yards away and going like the proverbialbat when I dropped my six-shooter on it. It was a pretty shot and whencoupled with a good dinner made me quite contented with myself.
After eating I lay down and slept. When I awoke I was scarcely soself-satisfied, for I had not more than opened my eyes before I becameaware of the presence, barely a hundred yards from me, of a pack ofsome twenty huge wolf-dogs--the things which Perry insisted uponcalling hyaenodons--and almost simultaneously I discovered that while Islept my revolvers, rifle, bow, arrows, and knife had been stolen fromme.
And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me.