Dian glanced downward and shuddered. Her tribewere hill people--they were not accustomed to swimming other than in quiet rivers and placid lakelets. It was not the steep that appalled her. It was theocean--vast, mysterious, terrible.

To dive into it from this great height was beyondher. I couldn't wonder, either. To have attempted itmyself seemed too preposterous even for thought. Onlyone consideration could have prompted me to leapheadforemost from that giddy height--suicide; or atleast so I thought at the moment.

"Quick!" I urged Dian. "You cannot dive; but I canhold them until you reach safety."

"And you?" she asked once more. "Can you divewhen they come too close? Otherwise you could notescape if you waited here until I reached the bottom."

I saw that she would not leave me unless she thoughtthat I could make that frightful dive as we had seenJuag make it. I glanced once downward; then with amental shrug I assured her that I would dive the moment that she reached the boat. Satisfied, she beganthe descent carefully, yet swiftly. I watched her for amoment, my heart in my mouth lest some slight misstep or the slipping of a finger-hold should pitch herto a frightful death upon the rocks below.

Then I turned toward the advancing Hoojans--"Hoosiers," Perry dubbed them--even going so far asto christen this island where Hooja held sway Indiana;it is so marked now upon our maps. They were comingon at a great rate. I raised my revolver, took deliberateaim at the foremost warrior, and pulled the trigger. With the bark of the gun the fellow lunged forward. His head doubled beneath him. He rolled over andover two or three times before he came to a stop, tolie very quietly in the thick grass among the brilliantwild flowers.

Those behind him halted. One of them hurled ajavelin toward me, but it fell short--they were justbeyond javelin-range. There were two armed with bowsand arrows; these I kept my eyes on. All of themappeared awe-struck and frightened by the sound andeffect of the firearm. They kept looking from the corpseto me and jabbering among themselves.

I took advantage of the lull in hostilities to throwa quick glance over the edge toward Dian. She washalf-way down the cliff and progressing finely. ThenI turned back toward the enemy. One of the bowmenwas fitting an arrow to his bow. I raised my hand.

"Stop!" I cried. "Whoever shoots at me or advancestoward me I shall kill as I killed him!"

I pointed at the dead man. The fellow lowered hisbow. Again there was animated discussion. I could seethat those who were not armed with bows were urgingsomething upon the two who were.

At last the majority appeared to prevail, for simultaneously the two archers raised their weapons. At thesame instant I fired at one of them, dropping him inhis tracks. The other, however, launched his missile,but the report of my gun had given him such a startthat the arrow flew wild above my head. A second afterand he, too, was sprawled upon the sward with a roundhole between his eyes. It had been a rather good shot.

I glanced over the edge again. Dian was almost atthe bottom. I could see Juag standing just beneath herwith his hands upstretched to assist her.

A sullen roar from the warriors recalled my attentiontoward them. They stood shaking their fists at me andyelling insults. From the direction of the village I sawa single warrior coming to join them. He was a hugefellow, and when he strode among them I could tellby his bearing and their deference toward him that hewas a chieftain. He listened to all they had to tell ofthe happenings of the last few minutes; then with acommand and a roar he started for me with the wholepack at his heels. All they had needed had arrived--namely, a brave leader.

I had two unfired cartridges in the chambers of mygun. I let the big warrior have one of them, thinkingthat his death would stop them all. But I guess theywere worked up to such a frenzy of rage by this timethat nothing would have stopped them. At any rate,they only yelled the louder as he fell and increasedtheir speed toward me. I dropped another with myremaining cartridge.

Then they were upon me--or almost. I thought ofmy promise to Dian--the awful abyss was behind me--a big devil with a huge bludgeon in front of me. I grasped my six-shooter by the barrel and hurled itsquarely in his face with all my strength.

Then, without waiting to learn the effect of my throw,I wheeled, ran the few steps to the edge, and leapedas far out over that frightful chasm as I could. I knowsomething of diving, and all that I know I put intothat dive, which I was positive would be my last.

For a couple of hundred feet I fell in horizontalposition. The momentum I gained was terrific. I couldfeel the air almost as a solid body, so swiftly I hurtledthrough it. Then my position gradually changed to thevertical, and with hands outstretched I slipped throughthe air, cleaving it like a flying arrow. Just before Istruck the water a perfect shower of javelins fell allabout. My enemies bad rushed to the brink and hurledtheir weapons after me. By a miracle I was untouched.

In the final instant I saw that I had cleared therocks and was going to strike the water fairly. ThenI was in and plumbing the depths. I suppose I didn'treally go very far down, but it seemed to me that Ishould never stop. When at last I dared curve myhands upward and divert my progress toward the surface, I thought that I should explode for air beforeI ever saw the sun again except through a swirl ofwater. But at last my bead popped above the waves,and I filled my lungs with air.

Before me was the boat, from which Juag and Dianwere clambering. I couldn't understand why they weredeserting it now, when we were about to set out forthe mainland in it; but when I reached its side I understood. Two heavy javelins, missing Dian and Juag bybut a hair's breadth, had sunk deep into the bottom ofthe dugout in a straight line with the grain of thewood, and split her almost in two from stem to stern. She was useless.

Juag was leaning over a near-by rock, his hand outstretched to aid me in clambering to his side; nor didI lose any time in availing myself of his proffered assistance. An occasional javelin was still droppingperilously close to us, so we hastened to draw as closeas possible to the cliffside, where we were comparatively safe from the missiles.

Here we held a brief conference, in which it wasdecided that our only hope now lay in making for theopposite end of the island as quickly as we could,and utilizing the boat that I had hidden there, to continue our journey to the mainland.

Gathering up three of the least damaged javelinsthat had fallen about us, we set out upon our journey,keeping well toward the south side of the island, whichJuag said was less frequented by the Hoojans thanthe central portion where the river ran. I think thatthis ruse must have thrown our pursuers off our track,since we saw nothing of them nor heard any soundof pursuit during the greater portion of our march thelength of the island.

But the way Juag had chosen was rough and round-about, so that we consumed one or two more marchesin covering the distance than if we had followed theriver. This it was which proved our undoing.

Those who sought us must have sent a party up theriver immediately after we escaped; for when we cameat last onto the river-trail not far from our destination,there can be no doubt but that we were seen byHoojans who were just ahead of us on the stream. The result was that as we were passing through aclump of bush a score of warriors leaped out upon us,and before we could scarce strike a blow in defense,had disarmed and bound us.

For a time thereafter I seemed to be entirely bereftof hope. I could see no ray of promise in the future--only immediate death for Juag and me, which didn'tconcern me much in the face of what lay in store forDian.

Poor child! What an awful life she had led! Fromthe moment that I had first seen her chained in theslave caravan of the Mahars until now, a prisoner ofa no less cruel creature, I could recall but a few briefintervals of peace and quiet in her tempestuous existence. Before I had known her, Jubal the Ugly Onehad pursued her across a savage world to make her hismate. She had eluded him, and finally I had slain him;but terror and privations, and exposure to fierce beastshad haunted her footsteps during all her lonely flightfrom him. And when I had returned to the outerworld the old trials had recommenced with Hooja inJubal's role. I could almost have wished for death tovouchsafe her that peace which fate seemed to denyher in this life.

I spoke to her on the subject, suggesting that weexpire together.

"Do not fear, David," she replied. "I shall end mylife before ever Hooja can harm me; but first I shallsee that Hooja dies."

She drew from her breast a little leathern thong,to the end of which was fastened a tiny pouch.

"What have you there?" I asked.

"Do you recall that time you stepped upon the thingyou call viper in your world?" she asked.

I nodded.

"The accident gave you the idea for the poisonedarrows with which we fitted the warriors of the empire," she continued. "And, too, it gave me an idea. For a long time I have carried a viper's fang in mybosom. It has given me strength to endure many dangers, for it has always assured me immunity from theultimate insult. I am not ready to die yet. First letHooja embrace the viper's fang."

So we did not die together, and I am glad nowthat we did not. It is always a foolish thing to contemplate suicide; for no matter how dark the futuremay appear today, tomorrow may hold for us thatwhich will alter our whole life in an instant, revealingto us nothing but sunshine and happiness. So, for mypart, I shall always wait for tomorrow.

In Pellucidar, where it is always today, the waitmay not be so long, and so it proved for us. As wewere passing a lofty, flat-topped hill through a park-like wood a perfect network of fiber ropes fell suddenlyabout our guard, enmeshing them. A moment latera horde of our friends, the hairy gorilla-men, with themild eyes and long faces of sheep leaped among them.

It was a very interesting fight. I was sorry that mybonds prevented me from taking part in it, but I urgedon the brutemen with my voice, and cheered oldGr-gr-gr, their chief, each time that his mighty jawscrunched out the life of a Hoojan. When the battlewas over we found that a few of our captors hadescaped, but the majority of them lay dead about us. The gorilla-men paid no further attention to them. Gr-gr-gr turned to me.

"Gr-gr-gr and all his people are your friends," hesaid. "One saw the warriors of the Sly One and followed them. He saw them capture you, and then heflew to the village as fast as he could go and told meall that he had seen. The rest you know. You did muchfor Gr-gr-gr and Gr-gr-gr's people. We shall always domuch for you."

I thanked him; and when I had told him of ourescape and our destination, he insisted on accompanying us to the sea with a great number of hisfierce males. Nor were we at all loath to accept hisescort. We found the canoe where I had hidden it,and bidding Gr-gr-gr and his warriors farewell, thethree of us embarked for the mainland.

I questioned Juag upon the feasibility of attemptingto cross to the mouth of the great river of which hehad told me, and up which he said we might paddlealmost to Sari; but he urged me not to attempt it,since we had but a single paddle and no water orfood. I had to admit the wisdom of his advice, but thedesire to explore this great waterway was strong uponme, arousing in me at last a determination to makethe attempt after first gaining the mainland and rectifying our deficiencies.

We landed several miles north of Thuria in a littlecove that seemed to offer protection from the heavierseas which sometimes run, even upon these usuallypacific oceans of Pellucidar. Here I outlined to Dianand Juag the plans I had in mind. They were to fitthe canoe with a small sail, the purposes of whichI had to explain to them both--since neither had everseen or heard of such a contrivance before. Then theywere to hunt for food which we could transport withus, and prepare a receptacle for water.

These two latter items were more in Juag's line, buthe kept muttering about the sail and the wind fora long time. I could see that he was not even halfconvinced that any such ridiculous contraption couldmake a canoe move through the water.

We hunted near the coast for a while, but were potrewarded with any particular luck. Finally we decidedto hide the canoe and strike inland in search of game. At Juag's suggestion we dug a hole in the sand at theupper edge of the beach and buried the craft, smoothing the surface over nicely and throwing aside the excessmaterial we had excavated. Then we set out awayfrom the sea. Traveling in Thuria is less arduous thanunder the midday sun which perpetually glares downon the rest of Pellucidar's surface; but it has its drawbacks, one of which is the depressing influence exertedby the everlasting shade of the Land of Awful Shadow.

The farther inland we went the darker it became,until we were moving at last through an endless twilight. The vegetation here was sparse and of a weird,colorless nature, though what did grow was wondrousin shape and form. Often we saw huge lidi, or beastsof burden, striding across the dim landscape, browsingupon the grotesque vegetation or drinking from theslow and sullen rivers that run down from the LidiPlains to empty into the sea in Thuria.

What we sought was either a thag--a sort of giganticelk--or one of the larger species of antelope, the fleshof either of which dries nicely in the sun. The bladderof the thag would make a fine water-bottle, and itsskin, I figured, would be a good sail. We traveled aconsiderable distance inland, entirely crossing the Landof Awful Shadow and emerging at last upon that portionof the Lidi Plains which lies in the pleasant sunlight. Above us the pendent world revolved upon its axis,filling me especially--and Dian to an almost equal state--with wonder and insatiable curiosity as to whatstrange forms of life existed among the hills and valleysand along the seas and rivers, which we could plainlysee.

Before us stretched the horizonless expanses of vastPellucidar, the Lidi Plains rolling up about us, whilehanging high in the heavens to the northwest of usI thought I discerned the many towers which markedthe entrances to the distant Mahar city, whose inhabitants preyed upon the Thurians.

Juag suggested that we travel to the northeast, where,he said, upon the verge of the plain we would finda wooded country in which game should be plentiful. Acting upon his advice, we came at last to a forest-jungle, through which wound innumerable game-paths. In the depths of this forbidding wood we came uponthe fresh spoor of thag.

Shortly after, by careful stalking, we came withinjavelin-range of a small herd. Selecting a great bull,Juag and I hurled our weapons simultaneously, Dianreserving hers for an emergency. The beast staggeredto his feet, bellowing. The rest of the herd was up andaway in an instant, only the wounded bull remaining,with lowered head and roving eyes searching for thefoe.

Then Juag exposed himself to the view of the bull--it is a part of the tactics of the hunt--while I steppedto one side behind a bush. The moment that the savagebeast saw Juag he charged him. Juag ran straight away,that the bull might be lured past my hiding-place. Onhe came--tons of mighty bestial strength and rage.

Dian had slipped behind me. She, too, could fight athag should emergency require. Ah, such a girl! Arightful empress of a stone age by every standard whichtwo worlds might bring to measure her!

Crashing down toward us came the bull thag, bellowing and snorting, with the power of a hundredouter-earthly bulls. When he was opposite me I sprangfor the heavy mane that covered his huge neck. Totangle my fingers in it was the work of but an instant. Then I was running along at the beast's shoulder.

Now, the theory upon which this hunting custom isbased is one long ago discovered by experience, andthat is that a thag cannot be turned from his chargeonce he has started toward the object of his wrath,so long as he can still see the thing he charges. Heevidently believes that the man clinging to his maneis attempting to restrain him from overtaking his prey,and so he pays no attention to this enemy, who, ofcourse, does not retard the mighty charge in the least.

Once in the gait of the plunging bull, it was buta slight matter to vault to his back, as cavalrymenmount their chargers upon the run. Juag was still running in plain sight ahead of the bull. His speed wasbut a trifle less than that of the monster that pursuedhim. These Pellucidarians are almost as fleet as deer;because I am not is one reason that I am always chosenfor the close-in work of the thag-hunt. I could not keepin front of a charging thag long enough to give thekiller time to do his work. I learned that the first--and last--time I tried it.

Once astride the bull's neck, I drew my long stoneknife and, setting the point carefully over the brute'sspine, drove it home with both hands. At the same instant I leaped clear of the stumbling animal. Now, novertebrate can progress far with a knife through hisspine, and the thag is no exception to the rule.

The fellow was down instantly. As he wallowedJuag returned, and the two of us leaped in when anopening afforded the opportunity and snatched ourjavelins from his side. Then we danced about him,more like two savages than anything else, until wegot the opening we were looking for, when simultaneously, our javelins pierced his wild heart, stillingit forever.

The thag had covered considerable ground from thepoint at which I had leaped upon him. When, afterdespatching him, I looked back for Dian, I could seenothing of her. I called aloud, but receiving no reply,set out at a brisk trot to where I had left her. I hadno difficulty in finding the self-same bush behind whichwe had hidden, but Dian was not there. Again andagain I called, to be rewarded only by silence. Wherecould she be? What could have become of her inthe brief interval since I had seen her standing justbehind me?