ONCE OUT OF THE DIRECT PATH OF THE ANIMAL, fear of itleft me, but another emotion as quickly gripped me--hopeof escape that the demoralized condition of the guardsmade possible for the instant.

I thought of Perry, but for the hope that I might betterencompass his release if myself free I should have putthe thought of freedom from me at once. As it was Ihastened on toward the right searching for an exit towardwhich no Sagoths were fleeing, and at last I found it--a low,narrow aperture leading into a dark corridor.

Without thought of the possible consequence, I darted intothe shadows of the tunnel, feeling my way along throughthe gloom for some distance. The noises of the amphitheaterhad grown fainter and fainter until now all was as silentas the tomb about me. Faint light filtered from abovethrough occasional ventilating and lighting tubes, but itwas scarce sufficient to enable my human eyes to cope withthe darkness, and so I was forced to move with extreme care,feeling my way along step by step with a hand upon thewall beside me.

Presently the light increased and a moment later,to my delight, I came upon a flight of steps leading upward,at the top of which the brilliant light of the noondaysun shone through an opening in the ground.

Cautiously I crept up the stairway to the tunnel's end,and peering out saw the broad plain of Phutra before me.The numerous lofty, granite towers which mark the severalentrances to the subterranean city were all in frontof me--behind, the plain stretched level and unbrokento the nearby foothills. I had come to the surface,then, beyond the city, and my chances for escape seemedmuch enhanced.

My first impulse was to await darkness before attemptingto cross the plain, so deeply implanted are habitsof thought; but of a sudden I recollected the perpetualnoonday brilliance which envelopes Pellucidar,and with a smile I stepped forth into the day-light.

Rank grass, waist high, grows upon the plain ofPhutra--the gorgeous flowering grass of the inner world,each particular blade of which is tipped with a tiny,five-pointed blossom--brilliant little stars of varyingcolors that twinkle in the green foliage to add stillanother charm to the weird, yet lovely, land-scape.

But then the only aspect which attracted me was the distanthills in which I hoped to find sanctuary, and so I hastened on,trampling the myriad beauties beneath my hurrying feet.Perry says that the force of gravity is less upon thesurface of the inner world than upon that of the outer.He explained it all to me once, but I was never particularlybrilliant in such matters and so most of it has escaped me.As I recall it the difference is due in some part to thecounter-attraction of that portion of the earth's crustdirectly opposite the spot upon the face of Pellucidarat which one's calculations are being made. Be that asit may, it always seemed to me that I moved with greaterspeed and agility within Pellucidar than upon the outersurface--there was a certain airy lightness of step that wasmost pleasing, and a feeling of bodily detachment whichI can only compare with that occasionally experienced in dreams.

And as I crossed Phutra's flower-bespangled plain that timeI seemed almost to fly, though how much of the sensationwas due to Perry's suggestion and how much to actualityI am sure I do not know. The more I thought of Perrythe less pleasure I took in my new-found freedom.There could be no liberty for me within Pellucidar unlessthe old man shared it with me, and only the hope that Imight find some way to encompass his release kept mefrom turning back to Phutra.

Just how I was to help Perry I could scarce imagine,but I hoped that some fortuitous circumstance might solvethe problem for me. It was quite evident however thatlittle less than a miracle could aid me, for what couldI accomplish in this strange world, naked and unarmed?It was even doubtful that I could retrace my stepsto Phutra should I once pass beyond view of the plain,and even were that possible, what aid could I bringto Perry no matter how far I wandered?

The case looked more and more hopeless the longer I viewed it,yet with a stubborn persistency I forged ahead towardthe foothills. Behind me no sign of pursuit developed,before me I saw no living thing. It was as though Imoved through a dead and forgotten world.

I have no idea, of course, how long it took me to reachthe limit of the plain, but at last I entered the foothills,following a pretty little canyon upward towardthe mountains. Beside me frolicked a laughing brooklet,hurrying upon its noisy way down to the silent sea.In its quieter pools I discovered many small fish, of four-or five-pound weight I should imagine. In appearance,except as to size and color, they were not unlike thewhale of our own seas. As I watched them playing aboutI discovered, not only that they suckled their young,but that at intervals they rose to the surface to breatheas well as to feed upon certain grasses and a strange,scarlet lichen which grew upon the rocks just above thewater line.

It was this last habit that gave me the opportunity Icraved to capture one of these herbivorous cetaceans--thatis what Perry calls them--and make as good a meal as one canon raw, warm-blooded fish; but I had become rather used,by this time, to the eating of food in its natural state,though I still balked on the eyes and entrails,much to the amusement of Ghak, to whom I always passedthese delicacies.

Crouching beside the brook, I waited until one of thediminutive purple whales rose to nibble at the longgrasses which overhung the water, and then, like the beastof prey that man really is, I sprang upon my victim,appeasing my hunger while he yet wriggled to escape.

Then I drank from the clear pool, and after washing my handsand face continued my flight. Above the source of the brookI encountered a rugged climb to the summit of a long ridge.Beyond was a steep declivity to the shore of a placid,inland sea, upon the quiet surface of which lay severalbeautiful islands.

The view was charming in the extreme, and as no man or beastwas to be seen that might threaten my new-found liberty,I slid over the edge of the bluff, and half sliding,half falling, dropped into the delightful valley,the very aspect of which seemed to offer a haven of peaceand security.

The gently sloping beach along which I walked was thicklystrewn with strangely shaped, colored shells; some empty,others still housing as varied a multitude of mollusksas ever might have drawn out their sluggish lives along thesilent shores of the antediluvian seas of the outer crust.As I walked I could not but compare myself with the firstman of that other world, so complete the solitude whichsurrounded me, so primal and untouched the virgin wondersand beauties of adolescent nature. I felt myself a secondAdam wending my lonely way through the childhood of a world,searching for my Eve, and at the thought there rosebefore my mind's eye the exquisite outlines of a perfectface surmounted by a loose pile of wondrous, raven hair.

As I walked, my eyes were bent upon the beach so that itwas not until I had come quite upon it that I discoveredthat which shattered all my beautiful dream of solitudeand safety and peace and primal overlordship. The thingwas a hollowed log drawn upon the sands, and in the bottomof it lay a crude paddle.

The rude shock of awakening to what doubtless might provesome new form of danger was still upon me when I hearda rattling of loose stones from the direction of the bluff,and turning my eyes in that direction I beheld theauthor of the disturbance, a great copper-colored man,running rapidly toward me.

There was that in the haste with which he came whichseemed quite sufficiently menacing, so that I didnot need the added evidence of brandishing spear andscowling face to warn me that I was in no safe position,but whither to flee was indeed a momentous question.

The speed of the fellow seemed to preclude the possibilityof escaping him upon the open beach. There was but asingle alternative--the rude skiff--and with a celeritywhich equaled his, I pushed the thing into the sea andas it floated gave a final shove and clambered in over the end.

A cry of rage rose from the owner of the primitive craft,and an instant later his heavy, stone-tipped spear grazedmy shoulder and buried itself in the bow of the boat beyond.Then I grasped the paddle, and with feverish haste urgedthe awkward, wobbly thing out upon the surface of the sea.

A glance over my shoulder showed me that the copper-coloredone had plunged in after me and was swimming rapidlyin pursuit. His mighty strokes bade fair to close upthe distance between us in short order, for at best Icould make but slow progress with my unfamiliar craft,which nosed stubbornly in every direction but that which Idesired to follow, so that fully half my energy wasexpended in turning its blunt prow back into the course.

I had covered some hundred yards from shore when it becameevident that my pursuer must grasp the stern of the skiffwithin the next half-dozen strokes. In a frenzy of despair,I bent to the grandfather of all paddles in a hopelesseffort to escape, and still the copper giant behind megained and gained.

His hand was reaching upward for the stern when I saw a sleek,sinuous body shoot from the depths below. The man sawit too, and the look of terror that overspread his faceassured me that I need have no further concern as to him,for the fear of certain death was in his look.

And then about him coiled the great, slimy folds of ahideous monster of that prehistoric deep--a mighty serpentof the sea, with fanged jaws, and darting forked tongue,with bulging eyes, and bony protuberances upon headand snout that formed short, stout horns.

As I looked at that hopeless struggle my eyes metthose of the doomed man, and I could have swornthat in his I saw an expression of hopeless appeal.But whether I did or not there swept through me a suddencompassion for the fellow. He was indeed a brother-man,and that he might have killed me with pleasurehad he caught me was forgotten in the extremity of his danger.

Unconsciously I had ceased paddling as the serpent roseto engage my pursuer, so now the skiff still drifted closebeside the two. The monster seemed to be but playing with hisvictim before he closed his awful jaws upon him and draggedhim down to his dark den beneath the surface to devour him.The huge, snakelike body coiled and uncoiled about its prey.The hideous, gaping jaws snapped in the victim's face.The forked tongue, lightning-like, ran in and out uponthe copper skin.

Nobly the giant battled for his life, beating with hisstone hatchet against the bony armor that covered thatfrightful carcass; but for all the damage he inflictedhe might as well have struck with his open palm.

At last I could endure no longer to sit supinely by whilea fellowman was dragged down to a horrible death by thatrepulsive reptile. Embedded in the prow of the skiff laythe spear that had been cast after me by him whom I suddenlydesired to save. With a wrench I tore it loose, and standingupright in the wobbly log drove it with all the strengthof my two arms straight into the gaping jaws of the hydrophidian.

With a loud hiss the creature abandoned its prey toturn upon me, but the spear, imbedded in its throat,prevented it from seizing me though it came nearto overturning the skiff in its mad efforts to reach me.