The Arabs, of whom I wrote you at the end of my lastletter (Innes began), and whom I thought to be enemiesintent only upon murdering me, proved to be exceedingly friendly--they were searching for the very bandof marauders that had threatened my existence. Thehuge rhamphorhynchus-like reptile that I had broughtback with me from the inner world--the ugly Maharthat Hooja the Sly One had substituted for my dearDian at the moment of my departure--filled themwith wonder and with awe.

Nor less so did the mighty subterranean prospectorwhich had carried me to Pellucidar and back again,and which lay out in the desert about two miles frommy camp.

With their help I managed to get the unwieldy tonsof its great bulk into a vertical position--the nose deepin a hole we had dug in the sand and the rest of itsupported by the trunks of date-palms cut for thepurpose.

It was a mighty engineering job with only wild Arabsand their wilder mounts to do the work of an electriccrane--but finally it was completed, and I was readyfor departure.

For some time I hesitated to take the Mahar backwith me. She had been docile and quiet ever since shehad discovered herself virtually a prisoner aboard the"iron mole." It had been, of course, impossible for meto communicate with her since she had no auditoryorgans and I no knowledge of her fourth-dimension,sixth-sense method of communication.

Naturally I am kind-hearted, and so I found it beyondme to leave even this hateful and repulsive thing alonein a strange and hostile world. The result was thatwhen I entered the iron mole I took her with me.

That she knew that we were about to return toPellucidar was evident, for immediately her mannerchanged from that of habitual gloom that had pervadedher, to an almost human expression of contentmentand delight.

Our trip through the earth's crust was but a repetitionof my two former journeys between the inner and theouter worlds. This time, however, I imagine that wemust have maintained a more nearly perpendicularcourse, for we accomplished the journey in a few minutes' less time than upon the occasion of my firstjourney through the five-hundred-mile crust. just atrifle less than seventy-two hours after our departureinto the sands of the Sahara, we broke through thesurface of Pellucidar.

Fortune once again favored me by the slightest ofmargins, for when I opened the door in the prospector'souter jacket I saw that we had missed coming upthrough the bottom of an ocean by but a few hundredyards.

The aspect of the surrounding country was entirelyunfamiliar to me--I had no conception of preciselywhere I was upon the one hundred and twenty-fourmillion square miles of Pellucidar's vast land surface.

The perpetual midday sun poured down its torridrays from zenith, as it had done since the beginning ofPellucidarian time--as it would continue to do to theend of it. Before me, across the wide sea, the weird,horizonless seascape folded gently upward to meet thesky until it lost itself to view in the azure depths ofdistance far above the level of my eyes.

How strange it looked! How vastly different fromthe flat and puny area of the circumscribed vision ofthe dweller upon the outer crust!

I was lost. Though I wandered ceaselessly throughouta lifetime, I might never discover the whereabouts ofmy former friends of this strange and savage world. Never again might I see dear old Perry, nor Ghak theHairy One, nor Dacor the Strong One, nor that otherinfinitely precious one--my sweet and noble mate,Dian the Beautiful!

But even so I was glad to tread once more the surfaceof Pellucidar. Mysterious and terrible, grotesque andsavage though she is in many of her aspects, I can notbut love her. Her very savagery appealed to me, forit is the savagery of unspoiled Nature.

The magnificence of her tropic beauties enthralledme. Her mighty land areas breathed unfettered freedom.

Her untracked oceans, whispering of virgin wondersunsullied by the eye of man, beckoned me out upontheir restless bosoms.

Not for an instant did I regret the world of mynativity. I was in Pellucidar. I was home. And I wascontent.

As I stood dreaming beside the giant thing that hadbrought me safely through the earth's crust, my traveling companion, the hideous Mahar, emerged from theinterior of the prospector and stood beside me. Fora long time she remained motionless.

What thoughts were passing through the convolutionsof her reptilian brain?

I do not know.

She was a member of the dominant race of Pellucidar. By a strange freak of evolution her kind hadfirst developed the power of reason in that world ofanomalies.

To her, creatures such as I were of a lower order. As Perry had discovered among the writings of herkind in the buried city of Phutra, it was still an openquestion among the Mahars as to whether man possessed means of intelligent communication or the powerof reason.

Her kind believed that in the center of all-pervadingsolidity there was a single, vast, spherical cavity, whichwas Pellucidar. This cavity had been left there for thesole purpose of providing a place for the creation andpropagation of the Mahar race. Everything within ithad been put there for the uses of the Mahar.

I wondered what this particular Mahar might thinknow. I found pleasure in speculating upon just whatthe effect had been upon her of passing through theearth's crust, and coming out into a world that one ofeven less intelligence than the great Mahars couldeasily see was a different world from her own Pellucidar.

What had she thought of the outer world's tiny sun?

What had been the effect upon her of the moon andmyriad stars of the clear African nights?

How had she explained them?

With what sensations of awe must she first havewatched the sun moving slowly across the heavens todisappear at last beneath the western horizon, leavingin his wake that which the Mahar had never beforewitnessed--the darkness of night? For upon Pellucidarthere is no night. The stationary sun hangs forever inthe center of the Pellucidarian sky--directly overhead.

Then, too, she must have been impressed by thewondrous mechanism of the prospector which had boredits way from world to world and back again. And thatit had been driven by a rational being must also haveoccurred to her.

Too, she bad seen me conversing with other menupon the earth's surface. She had seen the arrival ofthe caravan of books and arms, and ammunition, andthe balance of the heterogeneous collection which Ihad crammed into the cabin of the iron mole for transportation to Pellucidar.

She had seen all these evidences of a civilizationand brain-power transcending in scientific achievement anything that her race had produced; nor oncehad she seen a creature of her own kind.

There could have been but a single deduction in themind of the Mahar--there were other worlds thanPellucidar, and the gilak was a rational being.

Now the creature at my side was creeping slowlytoward the near-by sea. At my hip hung a long-barreledsix-shooter--somehow I had been unable to find thesame sensation of security in the newfangled automatics that had been perfected since my first departurefrom the outer world--and in my hand was a heavyexpress rifle.

I could have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knewintuitively that she was escaping--but I did not.

I felt that if she could return to her own kind withthe story of her adventures, the position of the humanrace within Pellucidar would be advanced immenselyat a single stride, for at once man would take his properplace in the considerations of the reptilia.

At the edge of the sea the creature paused andlooked back at me. Then she slid sinuously into the surf.

For several minutes I saw no more of her as sheluxuriated in the cool depths.

Then a hundred yards from shore she rose and therefor another short while she floated upon the surface.

Finally she spread her giant wings, flapped themvigorously a score of times and rose above the bluesea. A single time she circled far aloft--and thenstraight as an arrow she sped away.

I watched her until the distant haze enveloped herand she had disappeared. I was alone.

My first concern was to discover where within Pellucidar I might be--and in what direction lay the landof the Sarians where Ghak the Hairy One ruled.

But how was I to guess in which direction lay Sari?

And if I set out to search--what then?

Could I find my way back to the prospector with itspriceless freight of books, firearms, ammunition, scientific instruments, and still more books--its great libraryof reference works upon every conceivable branch of applied sciences?

And if I could not, of what value was all this vaststorehouse of potential civilization and progress to beto the world of my adoption?

Upon the other hand, if I remained here alone withit, what could I accomplish single-handed?

Nothing.

But where there was no east, no west, no north,no south, no stars, no moon, and only a stationary midday sun, how was I to find my way back to this spotshould ever I get out of sight of it?

I didn't know.

For a long time I stood buried in deep thought, whenit occurred to me to try out one of the compasses Ihad brought and ascertain if it remained steadily fixedupon an unvarying pole. I reentered the prospectorand fetched a compass without.

Moving a considerable distance from the prospectorthat the needle might not be influenced by its greatbulk of iron and steel I turned the delicate instrumentabout in every direction.

Always and steadily the needle remained rigidly fixedupon a point straight out to sea, apparently pointingtoward a large island some ten or twenty miles distant. This then should be north.

I drew my note-book from my pocket and madea careful topographical sketch of the locality withinthe range of my vision. Due north lay the island, farout upon the shimmering sea.

The spot I had chosen for my observations was thetop of a large, flat boulder which rose six or eight feetabove the turf. This spot I called Greenwich. Theboulder was the "Royal Observatory."

I had made a start! I cannot tell you what a senseof relief was imparted to me by the simple fact thatthere was at least one spot within Pellucidar with afamiliar name and a place upon a map.

It was with almost childish joy that I made a littlecircle in my note-book and traced the word Greenwichbeside it.

Now I felt I might start out upon my search withsome assurance of finding my way back again to theprospector.

I decided that at first I would travel directly southin the hope that I might in that direction find somefamiliar landmark. It was as good a direction as any. This much at least might be said of it.

Among the many other things I had brought fromthe outer world were a number of pedometers. Islipped three of these into my pockets with the ideathat I might arrive at a more or less accurate meanfrom the registrations of them all.

On my map I would register so many paces south,so many east, so many west, and so on. When I wasready to return I would then do so by any route thatI might choose.

I also strapped a considerable quantity of ammunition across my shoulders, pocketed some matches, andhooked an aluminum fry-pan and a small stew-kettle ofthe same metal to my belt.

I was ready--ready to go forth and explore a world!

Ready to search a land area of 124,110,000 squaremiles for my friends, my incomparable mate, and goodold Perry!

And so, after locking the door in the outer shellof the prospector, I set out upon my quest. Due southI traveled, across lovely valleys thick-dotted with grazing herds.

Through dense primeval forests I forced my wayand up the slopes of mighty mountains searching fora pass to their farther sides.

Ibex and musk-sheep fell before my good old revolver,so that I lacked not for food in the higher altitudes. The forests and the plains gave plentifully of fruitsand wild birds, antelope, aurochsen, and elk.

Occasionally, for the larger game animals and thegigantic beasts of prey, I used my express rifle, butfor the most part the revolver filled all my needs.

There were times, too, when faced by a mighty cavebear, a saber-toothed tiger, or huge felis spelaea, black-maned and terrible, even my powerful rifle seemedpitifully inadequate--but fortune favored me so thatI passed unscathed through adventures that even therecollection of causes the short hairs to bristle at thenape of my neck.

How long I wandered toward the south I do notknow, for shortly after I left the prospector somethingwent wrong with my watch, and I was again at themercy of the baffling timelessness of Pellucidar, forgingsteadily ahead beneath the great, motionless sun whichhangs eternally at noon.

I ate many times, however, so that days must haveelapsed, possibly months with no familiar landscaperewarding my eager eyes.

I saw no men nor signs of men. Nor is this strange,for Pellucidar, in its land area, is immense, while thehuman race there is very young and consequently farfrom numerous.

Doubtless upon that long search mine was the firsthuman foot to touch the soil in many places--minethe first human eye to rest upon the gorgeous wondersof the landscape.

It was a staggering thought. I could not but dwellupon it often as I made my lonely way through thisvirgin world. Then, quite suddenly, one day I steppedout of the peace of manless primality into the presenceof man--and peace was gone.

It happened thus:

I had been following a ravine downward out of achain of lofty hills and had paused at its mouth to viewthe lovely little valley that lay before me. At one sidewas tangled wood, while straight ahead a river woundpeacefully along parallel to the cliffs in which the hillsterminated at the valley's edge.

Presently, as I stood enjoying the lovely scene, asinsatiate for Nature's wonders as if I had not lookedupon similar landscapes countless times, a sound ofshouting broke from the direction of the woods. Thatthe harsh, discordant notes rose from the throats ofmen I could not doubt.

I slipped behind a large boulder near the mouth ofthe ravine and waited. I could hear the crashing ofunderbrush in the forest, and I guessed that whoevercame came quickly--pursued and pursuers, doubtless.

In a short time some hunted animal would break intoview, and a moment later a score of half-naked savageswould come leaping after with spears or club or greatstone-knives.

I had seen the thing so many times during my lifewithin Pellucidar that I felt that I could anticipate toa nicety precisely what I was about to witness. I hopedthat the hunters would prove friendly and be able todirect me toward Sari.

Even as I was thinking these thoughts the quarryemerged from the forest. But it was no terrified four-footed beast. Instead, what I saw was an old man--a terrified old man!

Staggering feebly and hopelessly from what musthave been some very terrible fate, if one could judgefrom the horrified expressions he continually cast behindhim toward the wood, he came stumbling on in mydirection.

He had covered but a short distance from the forestwhen I beheld the first of his pursuers--a Sagoth, oneof those grim and terrible gorilla-men who guard themighty Mahars in their buried cities, faring forth fromtime to time upon slave-raiding or punitive expeditionsagainst the human race of Pellucidar, of whom thedominant race of the inner world think as we thinkof the bison or the wild sheep of our own world.

Close behind the foremost Sagoth came others untila full dozen raced, shouting after the terror-strickenold man. They would be upon him shortly, that wasplain.

One of them was rapidly overhauling him, his back-thrown spear-arm testifying to his purpose.

And then, quite with the suddenness of an unexpected blow, I realized a past familiarity with the gaitand carriage of the fugitive.

Simultaneously there swept over me the staggeringfact that the old man was--PERRY! That he was aboutto die before my very eyes with no hope that I couldreach him in time to avert the awful catastrophe--for to me it meant a real catastrophe!

Perry was my best friend.

Dian, of course, I looked upon as more than friend. She was my mate--a part of me.

I had entirely forgotten the rifle in my hand andthe revolvers at my belt; one does not readily synchronize his thoughts with the stone age and thetwentieth century simultaneously.

Now from past habit I still thought in the stone age,and in my thoughts of the stone age there were nothoughts of firearms.

The fellow was almost upon Perry when the feel ofthe gun in my hand awoke me from the lethargy ofterror that had gripped me. From behind my boulderI threw up the heavy express rifle--a mighty engineof destruction that might bring down a cave bear ora mammoth at a single shot--and let drive at theSagoth's broad, hairy breast.

At the sound of the shot he stopped stock-still. Hisspear dropped from his hand.

Then he lunged forward upon his face.

The effect upon the others was little less remarkable. Perry alone could have possibly guessed the meaning ofthe loud report or explained its connection with thesudden collapse of the Sagoth. The other gorilla-menhalted for but an instant. Then with renewed shrieksof rage they sprang forward to finish Perry.

At the same time I stepped from behind my boulder, drawing one of my revolvers that I might conservethe more precious ammunition of the express rifle. Quickly I fired again with the lesser weapon.

Then it was that all eyes were directed toward me. Another Sagoth fell to the bullet from the revolver;but it did not stop his companions. They were out forrevenge as well as blood now, and they meant to haveboth.

As I ran forward toward Perry I fired four moreshots, dropping three of our antagonists. Then at lastthe remaining seven wavered. It was too much forthem, this roaring death that leaped, invisible, uponthem from a great distance.

As they hesitated I reached Perry's side. I have neverseen such an expression upon any man's face as thatupon Perry's when he recognized me. I have no wordswherewith to describe it. There was not time to talkthen--scarce for a greeting. I thrust the full, loadedrevolver into his hand, fired the last shot in my own,and reloaded. There were but six Sagoths left then.

They started toward us once more, though I couldsee that they were terrified probably as much by thenoise of the guns as by their effects. They neverreached us. Half-way the three that remained turnedand fled, and we let them go.

The last we saw of them they were disappearing intothe tangled undergrowth of the forest. And then Perryturned and threw his arms about my neck and, buryinghis old face upon my shoulder, wept like a child.