At the Earth's Core

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

  XII

  PURSUIT

  For an instant I stood there thinking of her, and then, with a sigh, Itucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth, and turnedto leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor which leadsaloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance with theprearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak that I hadbeen successful. A moment later they stood beside me, and to mysurprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them.

  "He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The fellowis a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of our chancenow I told him that I would bring him to you, and let you decidewhether he might accompany us."

  I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure that ifhe thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I saw no way outof it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars instead of onlythe three I had expected to, made it possible to include the fellow inour scheme of escape.

  "Very well," I said, "you may come with us, Hooja; but at the firstintimation of treachery I shall run my sword through you. Do youunderstand?"

  He said that he did.

  Some time later we had removed the skins from the four Mahars, and sosucceeded in crawling inside of them ourselves that there seemed anexcellent chance for us to pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was not aneasy thing to fasten the hides together where we had split them alongthe belly to remove them from their carcasses, but by remaining outuntil the others had all been sewed in with my help, and then leavingan aperture in the breast of Perry's skin through which he could passhis hands to sew me up, we were enabled to accomplish our design toreally much better purpose than I had hoped. We managed to keep theheads erect by passing our swords up through the necks, and by the samemeans were enabled to move them about in a life-like manner. We hadour greatest difficulty with the webbed feet, but even that problem wasfinally solved, so that when we moved about we did so quite naturally.Tiny holes punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads werethrust permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress.

  Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building. Ghak headedthe strange procession, then came Perry, followed by Hooja, while Ibrought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that I had so arranged mysword that I could thrust it through the head of my disguise into hisvitals were he to show any indication of faltering.

  As the noise of hurrying feet warned me that we were entering the busycorridors of the main level, my heart came up into my mouth. It iswith no sense of shame that I admit that I was frightened--never beforein my life, nor since, did I experience any such agony of soulsearingfear and suspense as enveloped me. If it be possible to sweat blood, Isweat it then.

  Slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the Mahars, whenthey are not using their wings, we crept through throngs of busyslaves, Sagoths, and Mahars. After what seemed an eternity we reachedthe outer door which leads into the main avenue of Phutra. ManySagoths loitered near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he paddedbetween them. Then Perry passed, and then Hooja. Now it was my turn,and then in a sudden fit of freezing terror I realized that the warmblood from my wounded arm was trickling down through the dead foot ofthe Mahar skin I wore and leaving its tell-tale mark upon the pavement,for I saw a Sagoth call a companion's attention to it.

  The guard stepped before me and pointing to my bleeding foot spoke tome in the sign language which these two races employ as a means ofcommunication. Even had I known what he was saying I could not havereplied with the dead thing that covered me. I once had seen a greatMahar freeze a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed my onlyhope, and so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks I moved my sword sothat it made the dead head appear to turn inquiring eyes upon thegorilla-man. For a long moment I stood perfectly still, eyeing thefellow with those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and startedslowly on. For a moment all hung in the balance, but before I touchedhim the guard stepped to one side, and I passed on out into the avenue.

  On we went up the broad street, but now we were safe for the verynumbers of our enemies that surrounded us on all sides. Fortunately,there was a great concourse of Mahars repairing to the shallow lakewhich lies a mile or more from the city. They go there to indulgetheir amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish, and enjoying thecool depths of the water. It is a fresh-water lake, shallow, and freefrom the larger reptiles which make the use of the great seas ofPellucidar impossible for any but their own kind.

  In the thick of the crowd we passed up the steps and out onto theplain. For some distance Ghak remained with the stream that wastraveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of a little gullyhe halted, and there we remained until all had passed and we werealone. Then, still in our disguises, we set off directly away fromPhutra.

  The heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast making our horribleprisons unbearable, so that after passing a low divide, and entering asheltering forest, we finally discarded the Mahar skins that hadbrought us thus far in safety.

  I shall not weary you with the details of that bitter and gallingflight. How we traveled at a dogged run until we dropped in ourtracks. How we were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How webarely escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers the size of whichwould dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines of theouter world.

  On and on we raced, our one thought to put as much distance betweenourselves and Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his ownland--the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed, and yet wewere sure that somewhere behind us relentless Sagoths were dogging ourtracks. Ghak said they never failed to hunt down their quarry untilthey had captured it or themselves been turned back by a superior force.

  Our only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe which was quitestrong enough in their mountain fastness to beat off any number ofSagoths.

  At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have beenyears, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed thefoothills of Sari. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who looked everquite as much behind as before, announced that he could see a body ofmen far behind us topping a low ridge in our wake. It was thelong-expected pursuit.

  I asked Ghak if we could make Sari in time to escape them.

  "We may," he replied; "but you will find that the Sagoths can move withincredible swiftness, and as they are almost tireless they aredoubtless much fresher than we. Then--" he paused, glancing at Perry.

  I knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted. For much of theperiod of our flight either Ghak or I had half supported him on themarch. With such a handicap, less fleet pursuers than the Sagothsmight easily overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights whichconfronted us.

  "You and Hooja go on ahead," I said. "Perry and I will make it if weare able. We cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is noreason why all should be lost because of that. It can't be helped--wehave simply to face it."

  "I will not desert a companion," was Ghak's simple reply. I hadn'tknown that this great, hairy, primeval man had any such nobility ofcharacter stowed away inside him. I had always liked him, but now tomy liking was added honor and respect. Yes, and love.

  But still I urged him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could reachhis people he might be able to bring out a sufficient force to driveoff the Sagoths and rescue Perry and myself.

  No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was all there was to it, but hesuggested that Hooja might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the king'sdanger. It didn't require much urging to start Hooja--the naked ideawas enough to send him leaping on ahead of us into the foothills whichwe now had reached.

  Perry realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine and theold fellow fairly begged us to go on without him, although I knew thathe was suffering a perfect anguish of terror at the thought of fallinginto the hands of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem, inpart, by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and car
rying him. Whilethe act cut down Ghak's speed he still could travel faster thus thanwhen half supporting the stumbling old man.