WE CROSSED THE RIVER AND PASSED THROUGH THE mountains beyond,and finally we came out upon a great level plain whichstretched away as far as the eye could reach. I cannot tellyou in what direction it stretched even if you would careto know, for all the while that I was within PellucidarI never discovered any but local methods of indicatingdirection--there is no north, no south, no east, no west.UP is about the only direction which is well defined,and that, of course, is DOWN to you of the outer crust.Since the sun neither rises nor sets there is no methodof indicating direction beyond visible objects such ashigh mountains, forests, lakes, and seas.

The plain which lies beyond the white cliffs which flankthe Darel Az upon the shore nearest the Mountainsof the Clouds is about as near to any direction as anyPellucidarian can come. If you happen not to have heardof the Darel Az, or the white cliffs, or the Mountainsof the Clouds you feel that there is something lacking,and long for the good old understandable northeastand southwest of the outer world.

We had barely entered the great plain when we discoveredtwo enormous animals approaching us from a great distance.So far were they that we could not distinguish what mannerof beasts they might be, but as they came closer, I saw thatthey were enormous quadrupeds, eighty or a hundred feet long,with tiny heads perched at the top of very long necks.Their heads must have been quite forty feet from the ground.The beasts moved very slowly--that is their action wasslow--but their strides covered such a great distancethat in reality they traveled considerably faster thana man walks.

As they drew still nearer we discovered that upon the backof each sat a human being. Then Dian knew what they were,though she never before had seen one.

"They are lidis from the land of the Thorians," she cried."Thoria lies at the outer verge of the Land of Awful Shadow.The Thorians alone of all the races of Pellucidar ridethe lidi, for nowhere else than beside the dark countryare they found."

"What is the Land of Awful Shadow?" I asked.

"It is the land which lies beneath the Dead World,"replied Dian; "the Dead World which hangs forever betweenthe sun and Pellucidar above the Land of Awful Shadow.It is the Dead World which makes the great shadow upon thisportion of Pellucidar."

I did not fully understand what she meant, nor am Isure that I do yet, for I have never been to that partof Pellucidar from which the Dead World is visible;but Perry says that it is the moon of Pellucidar--a tinyplanet within a planet--and that it revolves aroundthe earth's axis coincidently with the earth, and thusis always above the same spot within Pellucidar.

I remember that Perry was very much excited when I toldhim about this Dead World, for he seemed to think that itexplained the hitherto inexplicable phenomena of nutationand the precession of the equinoxes.

When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to uswe saw that one was a man and the other a woman.The former had held up his two hands, palms toward us,in sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind,when he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure,and slipping from his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian,throwing his arms about her.

In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only foran instant; since Dian quickly drew the man toward me,telling him that I was David, her mate.

"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David,"she said to me.

It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He hadfound none to his liking among the Sari, nor farther onuntil he had come to the land of the Thoria, and therehe had found and fought for this very lovely Thorianmaiden whom he was bringing back to his own people.

When they had heard our story and our plans they decidedto accompany us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might cometo an agreement relative to an alliance, as Dacor wasquite as enthusiastic about the proposed annihilationof the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I.

After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful,we came to the first of the Sarian villages which consistsof between one and two hundred artificial caves cut intothe face of a great cliff. Here to our immense delight,we found both Perry and Ghak. The old man was quiteovercome at sight of me for he had long since given meup as dead.

When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite knowwhat to say, but he afterward remarked that with the pickof two worlds I could not have done better.

Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement,and it was at a council of the head men of the varioustribes of the Sari that the eventual form of governmentwas tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, the variouskingdoms were to remain virtually independent,but there was to be one great overlord, or emperor.It was decided that I should be the first of the dynastyof the emperors of Pellucidar.

We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows,and poison pouches. The young men hunted the vipers whichprovided the virus, and it was they who mined the iron ore,and fashioned the swords under Perry's direction.Rapidly the fever spread from one tribe to another untilrepresentatives from nations so far distant that theSarians had never even heard of them came in to takethe oath of allegiance which we required, and to learnthe art of making the new weapons and using them.

We sent our young men out as instructors to everynation of the federation, and the movement had reachedcolossal proportions before the Mahars discovered it.The first intimation they had was when three of their greatslave caravans were annihilated in rapid succession.They could not comprehend that the lower orders had suddenlydeveloped a power which rendered them really formidable.

In one of the skirmishes with slave caravans some of ourSarians took a number of Sagoth prisoners, and amongthem were two who had been members of the guards withinthe building where we had been confined at Phutra.They told us that the Mahars were frantic with ragewhen they discovered what had taken place in the cellarsof the buildings. The Sagoths knew that something veryterrible had befallen their masters, but the Mahars had beenmost careful to see that no inkling of the true natureof their vital affliction reached beyond their own race.How long it would take for the race to become extinctit was impossible even to guess; but that this musteventually happen seemed inevitable.

The Mahars had offered fabulous rewards for the captureof any one of us alive, and at the same time had threatenedto inflict the direst punishment upon whomever shouldharm us. The Sagoths could not understand these seeminglyparadoxical instructions, though their purpose was quiteevident to me. The Mahars wanted the Great Secret,and they knew that we alone could deliver it to them.

Perry's experiments in the manufacture of gunpowder and thefashioning of rifles had not progressed as rapidly as wehad hoped--there was a whole lot about these two arts whichPerry didn't know. We were both assured that the solutionof these problems would advance the cause of civilizationwithin Pellucidar thousands of years at a single stroke.Then there were various other arts and sciences which wewished to introduce, but our combined knowledge of themdid not embrace the mechanical details which alonecould render them of commercial, or practical value.

"David," said Perry, immediately after his latest failure toproduce gunpowder that would even burn, "one of us must returnto the outer world and bring back the information we lack.Here we have all the labor and materials for reproducinganything that ever has been produced above--what we lackis knowledge. Let us go back and get that knowledgein the shape of books--then this world will indeed be at ourfeet."

And so it was decided that I should return in the prospector,which still lay upon the edge of the forest at the point wherewe had first penetrated to the surface of the inner world.Dian would not listen to any arrangement for my goingwhich did not include her, and I was not sorry that shewished to accompany me, for I wanted her to see my world,and I wanted my world to see her.

With a large force of men we marched to the great iron mole,which Perry soon had hoisted into position with its nosepointed back toward the outer crust. He went over allthe machinery carefully. He replenished the air tanks,and manufactured oil for the engine. At last everythingwas ready, and we were about to set out when our pickets,a long, thin line of which had surrounded our camp atall times, reported that a great body of what appearedto be Sagoths and Mahars were approaching from the directionof Phutra.

Dian and I were ready to embark, but I was anxiousto witness the first clash between two fair-sized armiesof the opposing races of Pellucidar. I realized that thiswas to mark the historic beginning of a mighty strugglefor possession of a world, and as the first emperorof Pellucidar I felt that it was not alone my duty,but my right, to be in the thick of that momentous struggle.

As the opposing army approached we saw that there were manyMahars with the Sagoth troops--an indication of the vastimportance which the dominant race placed upon the outcomeof this campaign, for it was not customary with them to takeactive part in the sorties which their creatures made forslaves--the only form of warfare which they waged upon thelower orders.

Ghak and Dacor were both with us, having come primarily toview the prospector. I placed Ghak with some of his Sarianson the right of our battle line. Dacor took the left,while I commanded the center. Behind us I stationeda sufficient reserve under one of Ghak's head men.The Sagoths advanced steadily with menacing spears,and I let them come until they were within easy bowshotbefore I gave the word to fire.

At the first volley of poison-tipped arrows the frontranks of the gorilla-men crumpled to the ground; but thosebehind charged over the prostrate forms of their comradesin a wild, mad rush to be upon us with their spears.A second volley stopped them for an instant, and thenmy reserve sprang through the openings in the firing lineto engage them with sword and shield. The clumsy spearsof the Sagoths were no match for the swords of the Sarianand Amozite, who turned the spear thrusts aside with theirshields and leaped to close quarters with their lighter,handier weapons.

Ghak took his archers along the enemy's flank, and whilethe swordsmen engaged them in front, he poured volley aftervolley into their unprotected left. The Mahars did littlereal fighting, and were more in the way than otherwise,though occasionally one of them would fasten its powerfuljaw upon the arm or leg of a Sarian.

The battle did not last a great while, for when Dacorand I led our men in upon the Sagoth's right with nakedswords they were already so demoralized that they turnedand fled before us. We pursued them for some time,taking many prisoners and recovering nearly a hundred slaves,among whom was Hooja the Sly One.

He told me that he had been captured while on his wayto his own land; but that his life had been sparedin hope that through him the Mahars would learn thewhereabouts of their Great Secret. Ghak and I wereinclined to think that the Sly One had been guidingthis expedition to the land of Sari, where he thoughtthat the book might be found in Perry's possession;but we had no proof of this and so we took him in andtreated him as one of us, although none liked him.And how he rewarded my generosity you will presently learn.

There were a number of Mahars among our prisoners,and so fearful were our own people of them that theywould not approach them unless completely coveredfrom the sight of the reptiles by a piece of skin.Even Dian shared the popular superstition regardingthe evil effects of exposure to the eyes of angry Mahars,and though I laughed at her fears I was willing enoughto humor them if it would relieve her apprehensionin any degree, and so she sat apart from the prospector,near which the Mahars had been chained, while Perry and Iagain inspected every portion of the mechanism.

At last I took my place in the driving seat, and calledto one of the men without to fetch Dian. It happened thatHooja stood quite close to the doorway of the prospector,so that it was he who, without my knowledge, went tobring her; but how he succeeded in accomplishing thefiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless there wereothers in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that,since all my people were loyal to me and would have madeshort work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme,even had he had time to acquaint another with it.It was all done so quickly that I may only believe that itwas the result of sudden impulse, aided by a number of,to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring at preciselythe right moment.

All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dianto the prospector, still wrapped from head to toein the skin of an enormous cave lion which covered hersince the Mahar prisoners had been brought into camp.He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was allready to get under way. The good-byes had been said.Perry had grasped my hand in the last, long farewell.I closed and barred the outer and inner doors,took my seat again at the driving mechanism, and pulledthe starting lever.

As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed ourfirst trial of the iron monster, there was a frightfulroaring beneath us--the giant frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed upthrough the hollow space between the inner and outer jacketsto be deposited in our wake. Once more the thing was off.

But on the instant of departure I was nearly thrownfrom my seat by the sudden lurching of the prospector.At first I did not realize what had happened, but presentlyit dawned upon me that just before entering the crust thetowering body had fallen through its supporting scaffolding,and that instead of entering the ground vertically we wereplunging into it at a different angle. Where it would bringus out upon the upper crust I could not even conjecture.And then I turned to note the effect of this strangeexperience upon Dian. She still sat shrouded in the great skin.

"Come, come," I cried, laughing, "come out of your shell.No Mahar eyes can reach you here," and I leaned over andsnatched the lion skin from her. And then I shrank backupon my seat in utter horror.

The thing beneath the skin was not Dian--it was ahideous Mahar. Instantly I realized the trick that Hoojahad played upon me, and the purpose of it. Rid of me,forever as he doubtless thought, Dian would be at his mercy.Frantically I tore at the steering wheel in an effortto turn the prospector back toward Pellucidar; but, as onthat other occasion, I could not budge the thing a hair.

It is needless to recount the horrors or the monotonyof that journey. It varied but little from the former onewhich had brought us from the outer to the inner world.Because of the angle at which we had entered the groundthe trip required nearly a day longer, and brought me outhere upon the sand of the Sahara instead of in the UnitedStates as I had hoped.

For months I have been waiting here for a white man to come.I dared not leave the prospector for fear I should neverbe able to find it again--the shifting sands of the desertwould soon cover it, and then my only hope of returningto my Dian and her Pellucidar would be gone forever.

That I ever shall see her again seems but remotely possible,for how may I know upon what part of Pellucidar my returnjourney may terminate--and how, without a north or southor an east or a west may I hope ever to find my way acrossthat vast world to the tiny spot where my lost love liesgrieving for me?

That is the story as David Innes told it to me in thegoat-skin tent upon the rim of the great Sahara Desert.The next day he took me out to see the prospector--itwas precisely as he had described it. So huge was itthat it could have been brought to this inaccessible partof the world by no means of transportation that existedthere--it could only have come in the way that DavidInnes said it came--up through the crust of the earthfrom the inner world of Pellucidar.

I spent a week with him, and then, abandoned mylion hunt, returned directly to the coast and hurriedto London where I purchased a great quantity of stuffwhich he wished to take back to Pellucidar with him.There were books, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, cameras,chemicals, telephones, telegraph instruments, wire,tool and more books--books upon every subject underthe sun. He said he wanted a library with which theycould reproduce the wonders of the twentieth centuryin the Stone Age and if quantity counts for anythingI got it for him.

I took the things back to Algeria myself, and accompaniedthem to the end of the railroad; but from here Iwas recalled to America upon important business.However, I was able to employ a very trustworthy manto take charge of the caravan--the same guide, in fact,who had accompanied me on the previous trip into theSahara--and after writing a long letter to Innes in whichI gave him my American address, I saw the expedition head south.

Among the other things which I sent to Innes was over fivehundred miles of double, insulated wire of a very fine gauge.I had it packed on a special reel at his suggestion, as itwas his idea that he could fasten one end here before heleft and by paying it out through the end of the prospectorlay a telegraph line between the outer and inner worlds.In my letter I told him to be sure to mark the terminusof the line very plainly with a high cairn, in case Iwas not able to reach him before he set out, so that Imight easily find and communicate with him should hebe so fortunate as to reach Pellucidar.

I received several letters from him after I returnedto America--in fact he took advantage of everynorthward-passing caravan to drop me word of some sort.His last letter was written the day before he intendedto depart. Here it is.

MY DEAR FRIEND:

Tomorrow I shall set out in quest of Pellucidar and Dian.That is if the Arabs don't get me. They have been very nastyof late. I don't know the cause, but on two occasions theyhave threatened my life. One, more friendly than the rest,told me today that they intended attacking me tonight.It would be unfortunate should anything of that sort happennow that I am so nearly ready to depart.

However, maybe I will be as well off, for the nearer thehour approaches, the slenderer my chances for success appear.

Here is the friendly Arab who is to take this letter northfor me, so good-bye, and God bless you for your kindnessto me.

The Arab tells me to hurry, for he sees a cloud of sandto the south--he thinks it is the party coming to murder me,and he doesn't want to be found with me. So goodbye again.

Yours,

DAVID INNES.

A year later found me at the end of the railroadonce more, headed for the spot where I had left Innes.My first disappointment was when I discovered that myold guide had died within a few weeks of my return,nor could I find any member of my former party who couldlead me to the same spot.

For months I searched that scorching land, interviewingcountless desert sheiks in the hope that at last I might findone who had heard of Innes and his wonderful iron mole.Constantly my eyes scanned the blinding waste of sandfor the ricky cairn beneath which I was to find the wiresleading to Pellucidar--but always was I unsuccessful.

And always do these awful questions harass me when Ithink of David Innes and his strange adventures.

Did the Arabs murder him, after all, just on the eveof his departure? Or, did he again turn the nose of hisiron monster toward the inner world? Did he reach it,or lies he somewhere buried in the heart of the great crust?And if he did come again to Pellucidar was it to breakthrough into the bottom of one of her great island seas,or among some savage race far, far from the land of hisheart's desire?

Does the answer lie somewhere upon the bosom of thebroad Sahara, at the end of two tiny wires, hidden beneatha lost cairn? I wonder.