The Mahars set me free as they had promised, but withstrict injunctions never to approach Phutra or any otherMahar city. They also made it perfectly plain that theyconsidered me a dangerous creature, and that havingwiped the slate clean in so far as they were underobligations to me, they now considered me fair prey. Should I again fall into their hands, they intimated itwould go ill with me.

They would not tell me in which direction Hooja hadset forth with Dian, so I departed from Phutra, filledwith bitterness against the Mahars, and rage toward theSly One who had once again robbed me of my greatesttreasure.

At first I was minded to go directly back to Anoroc;but upon second thought turned my face toward Sari,as I felt that somewhere in that direction Hooja wouldtravel, his own country lying in that general direction.

Of my journey to Sari it is only necessary to say thatit was fraught with the usual excitement and adventure,incident to all travel across the face of savage Pellucidar. The dangers, however, were greatly reduced throughthe medium of my armament. I often wondered how ithad happened that I had ever survived the first tenyears of my life within the inner world, when, nakedand primitively armed, I had traversed great areas ofher beast-ridden surface.

With the aid of my map, which I had kept with greatcare during my march with the Sagoths in search of thegreat secret, I arrived at Sari at last. As I topped thelofty plateau in whose rocky cliffs the principal tribe ofSarians find their cave-homes, a great hue and cry arosefrom those who first discovered me.

Like wasps from their nests the hairy warriors pouredfrom their caves. The bows with their poison-tippedarrows, which I had taught them to fashion and to use,were raised against me. Swords of hammered iron--another of my innovations--menaced me, as with lustyshouts the horde charged down.

It was a critical moment. Before I should be recognized I might be dead. It was evident that all semblanceof intertribal relationship had ceased with my going, andthat my people had reverted to their former savage,suspicious hatred of all strangers. My garb must havepuzzled them, too, for never before of course had theyseen a man clothed in khaki and puttees.

Leaning my express rifle against my body I raised bothhands aloft. It was the peace-sign that is recognizedeverywhere upon the surface of Pellucidar. The chargingwarriors paused and surveyed me. I looked for myfriend Ghak, the Hairy One, king of Sari, and presentlyI saw him coming from a distance. Ah, but it was goodto see his mighty, hairy form once more! A friend wasGhak--a friend well worth the having; and it had beensome time since I had seen a friend.

Shouldering his way through the throng of warriors,the mighty chieftain advanced toward me. There wasan expression of puzzlement upon his fine features. Hecrossed the space between the warriors and myself, halting before me.

I did not speak. I did not even smile. I wanted to seeif Ghak, my principal lieutenant, would recognize me. For some time he stood there looking me over carefully. His eyes took in my large pith helmet, my khaki jacket,and bandoleers of cartridges, the two revolvers swingingat my hips, the large rifle resting against my body. StillI stood with my hands above my head. He examinedmy puttees and my strong tan shoes--a little the worsefor wear now. Then he glanced up once more to myface. As his gaze rested there quite steadily for somemoments I saw recognition tinged with awe creepacross his countenance.

Presently without a word he took one of my hands inhis and dropping to one knee raised my fingers to hislips. Perry had taught them this trick, nor ever did themost polished courtier of all the grand courts of Europeperform the little act of homage with greater grace anddignity.

Quickly I raised Ghak to his feet, clasping both hishands in mine. I think there must have been tears inmy eyes then--I know I felt too full for words. The kingof Sari turned toward his warriors.

"Our emperor has come back," he announced. "Comehither and--"

But he got no further, for the shouts that broke fromthose savage throats would have drowned the voice ofheaven itself. I had never guessed how much theythought of me. As they clustered around, almost fightingfor 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. Withsuch as these I WOULD conquer one! If the Sarians hadremained loyal, so too would the Amozites be loyal still,and the Kalians, and the Suvians, and all the greattribes who had formed the federation that was to emancipate the human race of Pellucidar.

Perry was safe with the Mezops; I was safe with theSarians; now if Dian were but safe with me the futurewould look bright indeed.

It did not take long to outline to Ghak all that hadbefallen me since I had departed from Pellucidar, andto get down to the business of finding Dian, which tome at that moment was of even greater importance thanthe very empire itself.

When I told him that Hooja had stolen her, hestamped his foot in rage.

"It is always the Sly One!" he cried. "It was Hooja whocaused the first trouble between you and the BeautifulOne.

"It was Hooja who betrayed our trust, and all butcaused our recapture by the Sagoths that time weescaped from Phutra.

"It was Hooja who tricked you and substituted aMahar for Dian when you started upon your returnjourney to your own world.

"It was Hooja who schemed and lied until he hadturned the kingdoms one against another and destroyed the federation.

"When we had him in our power we were foolish tolet him live. Next time--"

Ghak did not need to finish his sentence.

"He has become a very powerful enemy now," I replied. "That he is allied in some way with the Mahars isevidenced by the familiarity of his relations with theSagoths who were accompanying me in search of thegreat secret, for it must have been Hooja whom I sawconversing with them just before we reached the valley. Doubtless they told him of our quest and he hastened onahead of us, discovered the cave and stole the document. Well does he deserve his appellation of the Sly One."

With Ghak and his head men I held a number ofconsultations. The upshot of them was a decision to combine our search for Dian with an attempt to rebuild thecrumbled federation. To this end twenty warriors weredespatched in pairs to ten of the leading kingdoms, withinstructions to make every effort to discover the whereabouts of Hooja and Dian, while prosecuting theirmissions to the chieftains to whom they were sent.

Ghak was to remain at home to receive the variousdelegations which we invited to come to Sari on thebusiness of the federation. Four hundred warriors werestarted for Anoroc to fetch Perry and the contents of theprospector, to the capitol of the empire, which was alsothe principal settlements of the Sarians.

At first it was intended that I remain at Sari, that Imight be in readiness to hasten forth at the first reportof the discovery of Dian; but I found the inaction in theface of my deep solicitude for the welfare of my mateso galling that scarce had the several units departedupon their missions before I, too, chafed to be activelyengaged upon the search.

It was after my second sleep, subsequent to the departure of the warriors, as I recall that I at last went toGhak with the admission that I could no longer supportthe intolerable longing to be personally upon the trail ofmy lost love.

Ghak tried to dissuade me, though I could tell that hisheart was with me in my wish to be away and reallydoing something. It was while we were arguing upon thesubject that a stranger, with hands above his head,entered the village. He was immediately surrounded bywarriors and conducted to Ghak's presence.

The fellow was a typical cave man--squat muscular,and hairy, and of a type I had not seen before. Hisfeatures, like those of all the primeval men of Pellucidar,were regular and fine. His weapons consisted of a stoneax 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 theThurians," replied the stranger. "From Thuria I havecome in search of the land of Amoz, where dwells Dacor,the Strong One, who stole my sister, Canda, the Graceful One, to be his mate.

"We of Thuria had heard of a great chieftain who hasbound together many tribes, and my father has sent meto Dacor to learn if there be truth in these stories, andif so to offer the services of Thuria to him whom we haveheard called emperor."

"The stories are true," replied Ghak, "and here is theemperor of whom you have heard. You need travel nofarther."

Kolk was delighted. He told us much of the wonderfulresources of Thuria, the Land of Awful Shadow, and ofhis long journey in search of Amoz.

"And why," I asked, "does Goork, your father, desireto join his kingdom to the empire?"

"There are two reasons," replied the young man. "Forever have the Mahars, who dwell beyond the Lidi Plainswhich lie at the farther rim of the Land of AwfulShadow, taken heavy toll of our people, whom theyeither force into lifelong slavery or fatten for their feasts. We have heard that the great emperor makes successfulwar upon the Mahars, against whom we should be gladto fight.

"Recently has another reason come. Upon a greatisland which lies in the Sojar Az, but a short distancefrom our shores, a wicked man has collected a greatband of outcast warriors of all tribes. Even are theremany Sagoths among them, sent by the Mahars to aidthe Wicked One.

"This band makes raids upon our villages, and it isconstantly growing in size and strength, for the Maharsgive liberty to any of their male prisoners who willpromise to fight with this band against the enemies ofthe Mahars. It is the purpose of the Mahars thus to raisea force of our own kind to combat the growth andmenace of the new empire of which I have come to seekinformation. All this we learned from one of our ownwarriors who had pretended to sympathize with thisband and had then escaped at the first opportunity."

"Who could this man be," I asked Ghak, "who leadsso vile a movement against his own kind?"

"His name is Hooja," spoke up Kolk, answering myquestion.

Ghak and I looked at each other. Relief was writtenupon his countenance and I know that it was beatingstrongly in my heart. At last we had discovered a tangible clue to the whereabouts of Hooja--and with theclue a guide!

But when I broached the subject to Kolk he demurred. He had come a long way, he explained, to see his sisterand to confer with Dacor. Moreover, he had instructionsfrom his father which he could not ignore lightly. Buteven so he would return with me and show me the wayto the island of the Thurian shore if by doing so wemight accomplish anything.

"But we cannot," he urged. "Hooja is powerful. Hehas thousands of warriors. He has only to call upon hisMahar allies to receive a countless horde of Sagoths todo his bidding against his human enemies.

"Let us wait until you may gather an equal hordefrom the kingdoms of your empire. Then we may marchagainst Hooja with some show of success.

"But first must you lure him to the mainland, for whoamong you knows how to construct the strange thingsthat carry Hooja and his band back and forth across thewater?

"We are not island people. We do not go upon thewater. We know nothing of such things."

I couldn't persuade him to do more than direct meupon the way. I showed him my map, which now included a great area of country extending from Anorocupon the east to Sari upon the west, and from the riversouth of the Mountains of the Clouds north to Amoz. Assoon as I had explained it to him he drew a line with hisfinger, showing a sea-coast far to the west and south ofSari, and a great circle which he said marked the extentof the Land of Awful Shadow in which lay Thuria.

The shadow extended southeast of the coast out intothe sea half-way to a large island, which he said was theseat of Hooja's traitorous government. The island itselflay in the light of the noonday sun. Northwest of thecoast and embracing a part of Thuria lay the LidiPlains, upon the northwestern verge of which was situated the Mahar city which took such heavy toll of theThurians.

Thus were the unhappy people now between twofires, with Hooja upon one side and the Mahars uponthe other. I did not wonder that they sent out an appealfor succor.

Though Ghak and Kolk both attempted to dissuademe, I was determined to set out at once, nor did I delaylonger than to make a copy of my map to be given toPerry that he might add to his that which I had set downsince we parted. I left a letter for him as well, in whichamong other things I advanced the theory that the SojarAz, or Great Sea, which Kolk mentioned as stretchingeastward from Thuria, might indeed be the same mightyocean as that which, swinging around the southern endof a continent ran northward along the shore oppositePhutra, mingling its waters with the huge gulf uponwhich lay Sari, Amoz, and Greenwich.

Against this possibility I urged him to hasten thebuilding of a fleet of small sailing-vessels, which wemight utilize should I find it impossible to entice Hooja'shorde to the mainland.

I told Ghak what I had written, and suggested that assoon as he could he should make new treaties with thevarious kingdoms of the empire, collect an army andmarch toward Thuria--this of course against the possibility of my detention through some cause or other.

Kolk gave me a sign to his father--a lidi, or beast ofburden, crudely scratched upon a bit of bone, and beneath the lidi a man and a flower; all very rudely doneperhaps, but none the less effective as I well knew frommy long years among the primitive men of Pellucidar.

The lidi is the tribal beast of the Thurians; the manand the flower in the combination in which they appeared bore a double significance, as they constitutednot only a message to the effect that the bearer came inpeace, but were also Kolk's signature.

And so, armed with my credentials and my smallarsenal, I set out alone upon my quest for the dearestgirl in this world or yours.

Kolk gave me explicit directions, though with my mapI do not believe that I could have gone wrong. As amatter of fact I did not need the map at all, since theprincipal landmark of the first half of my journey, a gigantic mountainpeak, was plainly visible from Sari,though a good hundred miles away.

At the southern base of this mountain a river rose andran in a westerly direction, finally turning south andemptying into the Sojar Az some forty miles northeast ofThuria. All that I had to do was follow this river to thesea and then follow the coast to Thuria.

Two hundred and forty miles of wild mountain andprimeval jungle, of untracked plain, of nameless rivers,of deadly swamps and savage forests lay ahead of me,yet never had I been more eager for an adventure thannow, for never had more depended upon haste andsuccess.

I do not know how long a time that journey required,and only half did I appreciate the varied wonders thateach new march unfolded before me, for my mind andheart were filled with but a single image--that of aperfect girl whose great, dark eyes looked bravely forthfrom a frame of raven hair.

It was not until I had passed the high peak and foundthe river that my eyes first discovered the pendentworld, the tiny satellite which hangs low over the surfaceof Pellucidar casting its perpetual shadow always uponthe same spot--the area that is known here as theLand of Awful Shadow, in which dwells the tribe ofThuria.

From the distance and the elevation of the highlandswhere I stood the Pellucidarian noonday moon showedhalf in sunshine and half in shadow, while directly beneath it was plainly visible the round dark spot upon thesurface of Pellucidar where the sun has never shone. From where I stood the moon appeared to hang so lowabove the ground as almost to touch it; but later I was tolearn that it floats a mile above the surface--whichseems indeed quite close for a moon.

Following the river downward I soon lost sight of thetiny planet as I entered the mazes of a lofty forest. Nordid I catch another glimpse of it for some time--severalmarches at least. However, when the river led me to thesea, or rather just before it reached the sea, of a suddenthe sky became overcast and the size and luxuriance ofthe vegetation diminished as by magic--as if an omnipotent hand had drawn a line upon the earth, and said:

"Upon this side shall the trees and the shrubs, thegrasses and the flowers, riot in profusion of rich colors,gigantic size and bewildering abundance; and upon thatside shall they be dwarfed and pale and scant."

Instantly I looked above, for clouds are so uncommonin the skies of Pellucidar--they are practically unknownexcept above the mightiest mountain ranges--that ithad given me something of a start to discover the sunobliterated. But I was not long in coming to a realizationof the 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 thedistance and too deep the shadow of its under side forme to distinguish any movement as of animal life.

Instantly a great curiosity was awakened within me. The questions which the sight of this planet, so tantalizingly close, raised in my mind were numerous andunanswerable.

Was it inhabited?

If so, by what manner and form of creature?

Were its people as relatively diminutive as their littleworld, or were they as disproportionately huge as thelesser attraction of gravity upon the surface of theirglobe would permit of their being?

As I watched it, I saw that it was revolving upon anaxis that lay parallel to the surface of Pellucidar, so thatduring each revolution its entire surface was once exposed to the world below and once bathed in the heat ofthe great sun above. The little world had that whichPellucidar could not have--a day and night, and--greatest of boons to one outer-earthly born--time.

Here I saw a chance to give time to Pellucidar, usingthis mighty clock, revolving perpetually in the heavens,to record the passage of the hours for the earth below. Here should be located an observatory, from whichmight be flashed by wireless to every corner of the empire the correct time once each day. That this timewould be easily measured I had no doubt, since so plainwere the landmarks upon the under surface of thesatellite that it would be but necessary to erect a simpleinstrument and mark the instant of passage of a givenlandmark across the instrument.

But then was not the time for dreaming; I must devote my mind to the purpose of my journey. So Ihastened 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 shadowbefore it emptied into the Sojar Az. Then I continued ina southerly direction along the coast toward the villageof Thuria, where I hoped to find Goork and deliver tohim my credentials.

I had progressed no great distance from the mouth ofthe river when I discerned, lying some distance at sea,a great island. This I assumed to be the stronghold ofHooja, nor did I doubt that upon it even now was Dian.

The way was most difficult, since shortly after leavingthe river I encountered lofty cliffs split by numerouslong, narrow fiords, each of which necessitated a considerable detour. As the crow flies it is about twentymiles from the mouth of the river to Thuria, but before I had covered half of it I was fagged. There was nofamiliar fruit or vegetable growing upon the rocky soil ofthe cliff-tops, and I would have fared ill for food hadnot a hare broken cover almost beneath my nose.

I carried bow and arrows to conserve my ammunition-supply, but so quick was the little animal that I had notime to draw and fit a shaft. In fact my dinner was ahundred yards away and going like the proverbial batwhen I dropped my six-shooter on it. It was a pretty shotand when coupled with a good dinner made me quitecontented with myself.

After eating I lay down and slept. When I awoke Iwas scarcely so self-satisfied, for I had not more thanopened my eyes before I became aware of the presence,barely a hundred yards from me, of a pack of sometwenty huge wolf-dogs--the things which Perry insistedupon calling hyaenodons--and almost simultaneously Idiscovered that while I slept my revolvers, rifle, bow,arrows, and knife had been stolen from me.

And the wolf-dog pack was preparing to rush me.