At the Earth's Core

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

  XI

  FOUR DEAD MAHARS

  A moment later I was standing before a dozen Mahars--the socialinvestigators of Phutra. They asked me many questions, through aSagoth interpreter. I answered them all truthfully. They seemedparticularly interested in my account of the outer earth and thestrange vehicle which had brought Perry and me to Pellucidar. Ithought that I had convinced them, and after they had sat in silencefor a long time following my examination, I expected to be orderedreturned to my quarters.

  During this apparent silence they were debating through the medium ofstrange, unspoken language the merits of my tale. At last the head ofthe tribunal communicated the result of their conference to the officerin charge of the Sagoth guard.

  "Come," he said to me, "you are sentenced to the experimental pits forhaving dared to insult the intelligence of the mighty ones with theridiculous tale you have had the temerity to unfold to them."

  "Do you mean that they do not believe me?" I asked, totally astonished.

  "Believe you!" he laughed. "Do you mean to say that you expected anyone to believe so impossible a lie?"

  It was hopeless, and so I walked in silence beside my guard downthrough the dark corridors and runways toward my awful doom. At a lowlevel we came upon a number of lighted chambers in which we saw manyMahars engaged in various occupations. To one of these chambers myguard escorted me, and before leaving they chained me to a side wall.There were other humans similarly chained. Upon a long table lay avictim even as I was ushered into the room. Several Mahars stood aboutthe poor creature holding him down so that he could not move. Another,grasping a sharp knife with her three-toed fore foot, was laying openthe victim's chest and abdomen. No anesthetic had been administeredand the shrieks and groans of the tortured man were terrible to hear.This, indeed, was vivisection with a vengeance. Cold sweat broke outupon me as I realized that soon my turn would come. And to think thatwhere there was no such thing as time I might easily imagine that mysuffering was enduring for months before death finally released me!

  The Mahars had paid not the slightest attention to me as I had beenbrought into the room. So deeply immersed were they in their work thatI am sure they did not even know that the Sagoths had entered with me.The door was close by. Would that I could reach it! But those heavychains precluded any such possibility. I looked about for some meansof escape from my bonds. Upon the floor between me and the Mahars laya tiny surgical instrument which one of them must have dropped. Itlooked not unlike a button-hook, but was much smaller, and its pointwas sharpened. A hundred times in my boyhood days had I picked lockswith a button-hook. Could I but reach that little bit of polishedsteel I might yet effect at least a temporary escape.

  Crawling to the limit of my chain, I found that by reaching one hand asfar out as I could my fingers still fell an inch short of the covetedinstrument. It was tantalizing! Stretch every fiber of my being as Iwould, I could not quite make it.

  At last I turned about and extended one foot toward the object. Myheart came to my throat! I could just touch the thing! But supposethat in my effort to drag it toward me I should accidentally shove itstill farther away and thus entirely out of reach! Cold sweat brokeout upon me from every pore. Slowly and cautiously I made the effort.My toes dropped upon the cold metal. Gradually I worked it toward meuntil I felt that it was within reach of my hand and a moment later Ihad turned about and the precious thing was in my grasp.

  Assiduously I fell to work upon the Mahar lock that held my chain. Itwas pitifully simple. A child might have picked it, and a moment laterI was free. The Mahars were now evidently completing their work at thetable. One already turned away and was examining other victims,evidently with the intention of selecting the next subject.

  Those at the table had their backs toward me. But for the creaturewalking toward us I might have escaped that moment. Slowly the thingapproached me, when its attention was attracted by a huge slave chaineda few yards to my right. Here the reptile stopped and commenced to goover the poor devil carefully, and as it did so its back turned towardme for an instant, and in that instant I gave two mighty leaps thatcarried me out of the chamber into the corridor beyond, down which Iraced with all the speed I could command.

  Where I was, or whither I was going, I knew not. My only thought wasto place as much distance as possible between me and that frightfulchamber of torture.

  Presently I reduced my speed to a brisk walk, and later realizing thedanger of running into some new predicament, were I not careful, Imoved still more slowly and cautiously. After a time I came to apassage that seemed in some mysterious way familiar to me, andpresently, chancing to glance within a chamber which led from thecorridor I saw three Mahars curled up in slumber upon a bed of skins.I could have shouted aloud in joy and relief. It was the same corridorand the same Mahars that I had intended to have lead so important arole in our escape from Phutra. Providence had indeed been kind to me,for the reptiles still slept.

  My one great danger now lay in returning to the upper levels in searchof Perry and Ghak, but there was nothing else to be done, and so Ihastened upward. When I came to the frequented portions of thebuilding, I found a large burden of skins in a corner and these Ilifted to my head, carrying them in such a way that ends and cornersfell down about my shoulders completely hiding my face. Thus disguisedI found Perry and Ghak together in the chamber where we had been wontto eat and sleep.

  Both were glad to see me, it was needless to say, though of course theyhad known nothing of the fate that had been meted out to me by myjudges. It was decided that no time should now be lost beforeattempting to put our plan of escape to the test, as I could not hopeto remain hidden from the Sagoths long, nor could I forever carry thatbale of skins about upon my head without arousing suspicion. Howeverit seemed likely that it would carry me once more safely through thecrowded passages and chambers of the upper levels, and so I set outwith Perry and Ghak--the stench of the illy cured pelts fairly chokingme.

  Together we repaired to the first tier of corridors beneath the mainfloor of the buildings, and here Perry and Ghak halted to await me.The buildings are cut out of the solid limestone formation. There isnothing at all remarkable about their architecture. The rooms aresometimes rectangular, sometimes circular, and again oval in shape.The corridors which connect them are narrow and not always straight.The chambers are lighted by diffused sunlight reflected through tubessimilar to those by which the avenues are lighted. The lower the tiersof chambers, the darker. Most of the corridors are entirely unlighted.The Mahars can see quite well in semidarkness.

  Down to the main floor we encountered many Mahars, Sagoths, and slaves;but no attention was paid to us as we had become a part of the domesticlife of the building. There was but a single entrance leading from theplace into the avenue and this was well guarded by Sagoths--thisdoorway alone were we forbidden to pass. It is true that we were notsupposed to enter the deeper corridors and apartments except on specialoccasions when we were instructed to do so; but as we were considered alower order without intelligence there was little reason to fear thatwe could accomplish any harm by so doing, and so we were not hinderedas we entered the corridor which led below.

  Wrapped in a skin I carried three swords, and the two bows, and thearrows which Perry and I had fashioned. As many slaves boreskin-wrapped burdens to and fro my load attracted no comment. Where Ileft Ghak and Perry there were no other creatures in sight, and so Iwithdrew one sword from the package, and leaving the balance of theweapons with Perry, started on alone toward the lower levels.

  Having come to the apartment in which the three Mahars slept I enteredsilently on tiptoe, forgetting that the creatures were without thesense of hearing. With a quick thrust through the heart I disposed ofthe first but my second thrust was not so fortunate, so that before Icould kill the next of my victims it had hurled itself against thethird, who sprang quickly up, facing me with wide-distended jaws. Butfighting is not the occupation which th
e race of Mahars loves, and whenthe thing saw that I already had dispatched two of its companions, andthat my sword was red with their blood, it made a dash to escape me.But I was too quick for it, and so, half hopping, half flying, itscurried down another corridor with me close upon its heels.

  Its escape meant the utter ruin of our plan, and in all probability myinstant death. This thought lent wings to my feet; but even at my bestI could do no more than hold my own with the leaping thing before me.

  Of a sudden it turned into an apartment on the right of the corridor,and an instant later as I rushed in I found myself facing two of theMahars. The one who had been there when we entered had been occupiedwith a number of metal vessels, into which had been put powders andliquids as I judged from the array of flasks standing about upon thebench where it had been working. In an instant I realized what I hadstumbled upon. It was the very room for the finding of which Perry hadgiven me minute directions. It was the buried chamber in which washidden the Great Secret of the race of Mahars. And on the bench besidethe flasks lay the skin-bound book which held the only copy of thething I was to have sought, after dispatching the three Mahars in theirsleep.

  There was no exit from the room other than the doorway in which I nowstood facing the two frightful reptiles. Cornered, I knew that theywould fight like demons, and they were well equipped to fight if fightthey must. Together they launched themselves upon me, and though I ranone of them through the heart on the instant, the other fastened itsgleaming fangs about my sword arm above the elbow, and then with hersharp talons commenced to rake me about the body, evidently intent upondisemboweling me. I saw that it was useless to hope that I mightrelease my arm from that powerful, viselike grip which seemed to besevering my arm from my body. The pain I suffered was intense, but itonly served to spur me to greater efforts to overcome my antagonist.

  Back and forth across the floor we struggled--the Mahar dealing meterrific, cutting blows with her fore feet, while I attempted toprotect my body with my left hand, at the same time watching for anopportunity to transfer my blade from my now useless sword hand to itsrapidly weakening mate. At last I was successful, and with what seemedto me my last ounce of strength I ran the blade through the ugly bodyof my foe.

  Soundless, as it had fought, it died, and though weak from pain andloss of blood, it was with an emotion of triumphant pride that Istepped across its convulsively stiffening corpse to snatch up the mostpotent secret of a world. A single glance assured me it was the verything that Perry had described to me.

  And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race ofPellucidar--did there flash through my mind the thought that countlessgenerations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason to worship mefor the thing that I had accomplished for them? I did not. I thoughtof a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid eyes, through a wavingmass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red lips, God-made forkissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing, standing there alone inthe secret chamber of the Mahars of Pellucidar, I realized that I lovedDian the Beautiful.