13 - At the Earths Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Dive into a thrilling adventure as David Innes, a mining heir, funds the creation of the iron mole, an innovative excavating vehicle crafted by his brilliant yet aging friend Abner Perry. During a daring test run, the vehicle goes awry, drilling 500 miles into the Earths crust and emerging into the mysterious inner world of Pellucidar. In this captivating realm, the Earth functions as a hollow shell, with Pellucidar as its vibrant internal surface, teeming with prehistoric creatures from every geological era. Here, the intelligent yet malevolent Mahars, a species of flying reptile, dominate the landscape, enslaving the primitive humans who inhabit it. Captured by the Mahars fierce Sagoth servants, Innes and Perry find themselves amidst other human captives, including the valiant Ghak, the clever Hooja, and the enchanting Dian. Join them on an exhilarating journey through a world of danger, intrigue, and unexpected alliances.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twelve of At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. At the
Earth's Core, Chapter twelve, Pursuit for an instant I stood there,
thinking of her, and then with a sigh, I tucked

(00:20):
the book in the thong that supported my loincloth and
turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the
corridor which leads aloft from the lower chambers. I whistled
in accordance with the prearranged signal, which was to announce
to Perry and Ghek that I had been successful. A
moment later they stood beside me, and to my surprise
I saw that Hooja, the sly one, accompanied them. He

(00:44):
joined us, explained Perry, and would not be denied. The
fellow is a fox. He sends escape, and rather than
be thwarted of our chance now, I told him that
I would bring him to you and let you decide
whether he might accompany us. I had no love for
Hooja and no confidence in him. I was sure that

(01:06):
if he thought it would profit him, he would betray us.
But I saw no way out of it now, and
the fact that I had killed four mahars instead of
only the three I had expected to made it possible
to include the fellow in our scheme of escape very well,
I said, you may come with us, Hooja, but at
the first intimation of treachery, I shall run my sword

(01:27):
through you. Do you understand, He said that he did.
Some time later, we had removed the skins from the
four mahars, and so succeeded in crawling inside of them
ourselves that there seemed an excellent chance for us to
pass unnoticed from Phutra. It was not an easy thing
to fasten the hides together where we had split them

(01:49):
along the belly, to remove them from their carcasses. But
by remaining out until the others had all been sewed
in with my help, and then leaving an aperture in
the breast of Perry's skins through which he could pass
his hands to sow me up, we were enabled to
accomplish our design to really much better purpose than I
had hoped. We managed to keep the heads erect by

(02:11):
passing our swords up through the necks, and by the
same means were enabled to move them about in a
lifelike manner. We had our greatest difficulty with the webbed feet.
But even that problem was finally solved, so that when
we moved about, we did so quite naturally. Tiny holes
punctured in the baggy throats into which our heads were

(02:32):
thrust permitted us to see well enough to guide our progress.
Thus we started up toward the main floor of the building.
Ghak headed this strange procession. Then came Perry, followed by Hooja,
while I brought up the rear, after admonishing Hooja that
I had so arranged my sword that I could thrust
it through the head of my disguise into his vitals

(02:54):
were he to show any indication of faltering. As the
noise of her feet warned me that we were entering
the busy corridors of the main level, my heart came
up into my mouth. It is with no sense of
shame that I admit that I was frightened. Never before
in my life, nor sense, did I experience any such
agony of soul searing, fear and suspense as enveloped me.

(03:19):
If it be possible to sweat blood, I sweat it
then slowly, after the manner of locomotion habitual to the
Mahars when they were not using their wings, we crept
through the throngs of busy slaves, Sagoths and Mahars. After
what seemed an eternity, we reached the outer door, which
leads into the main avenue of Phutra. Many Sagoths loitered

(03:42):
near the opening. They glanced at Ghak as he patted
between 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 warm blood from my
wounded arm was trickling down through the dead foot of
the Mahar skin I wore, and leaving its tell tale

(04:02):
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 to me in the
sign language which these two races employ as a means
of communication. Even had I known what he was saying,
I could not have replied with the dead thing that
covered me. I once had seen a great Mahar freeze

(04:26):
a presumptuous Sagoth with a look. It seemed my only hope,
so I tried it. Stopping in my tracks, I moved
my sword so that it made the dead head appear
to turn inquiring eyes upon the guerrilla man. For a
long moment, I stood perfectly still, eyeing the fellow with
those dead eyes. Then I lowered the head and started

(04:48):
slowly on. For moments all hung in the balance. But
before I touched him, the guard stepped to one side,
and I passed on out into the avenue. On we
went up the broad but now we were safe for
the very numbers of our enemies that surrounded us on
all sides. Fortunately, there was a great concourse of mahars

(05:09):
repairing to the shallow lake which lies a mile or
more from the city. They go there to indulge their
amphibian proclivities in diving for small fish and enjoying the
cool depths of the water. It is a fresh water lake,
shallow and free from the larger reptiles which make the
use of the great seas of Pellucidar impossible for any
but their own kind. In the thick of the crowd,

(05:32):
we passed up the steps and out onto the plain.
For some distance, Ghak remained with the stream that was
traveling toward the lake, but finally, at the bottom of
a little gully, he halted and there we remained until
all had passed and we were alone. Then, still in
our disguises, we set off directly away from Phutra. The

(05:54):
heat of the vertical rays of the sun was fast
making our horrible prisons unbearable, so that after passing a
low divide and entering a sheltering forest, we finally discarded
the Mahar skins that had brought us thus far in safety.
I shall not weary you with the details of that
bitter and galling flight. How we traveled at a dog

(06:15):
had run until we dropped in our tracks. How we
were beset by strange and terrible beasts. How we barely
escaped the cruel fangs of lions and tigers, the size
of which would dwarf into pitiful insignificance the greatest felines
of the outer world. On and on we raced, our
one thought to put as much distance between ourselves and

(06:37):
Phutra as possible. Ghak was leading us to his own land,
the land of Sari. No sign of pursuit had developed,
and yet we were sure that somewhere behind us, relentless
Sagoths were dogging our tracks. Ghak said they never failed
to hunt down their quarry until they had captured it
or themselves been turned back by a superior force. Our

(07:01):
only hope, he said, lay in reaching his tribe, which
was quite strong enough in their mountain fastness to beat
off any number of Sagoths. At last, after what seemed months,
and may I now realize have been years, we came
in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed the foothills
of Sary. At almost the same instant, Hooja, who looked

(07:23):
ever quite as much behind as before, announced that he
could see a body of men far behind us, topping
a low ridge in our wake. It was the long
expected pursuit. I asked Ghak. If we could make sorry
in time to escape them, we may, he replied, but
you will find that the Sagoths can move with incredible swiftness,

(07:45):
and as they are almost tireless, they are doubtless much
fresher than we. Then he paused, glancing at Perry. I
knew what he meant. The old man was exhausted for
much of the period of our flight. Either Ghak or
I had half supported him on the march. With such
a handicap less fleet, pursuers than the Sagoths might easily

(08:09):
overtake us before we could scale the rugged heights which
confronted us. You and Hooja go on ahead, I said, Parry,
and I will make it if we are able. We
cannot travel as rapidly as you two, and there is
no reason why all should be lost. Because of that,
it can't be helped. We have simply deface it. I

(08:31):
will not desert a companion, was Ghak's simple reply. I
hadn't known that this great hairy primeval man had any
such nobility of character stowed away inside him. I had
always liked him, but now to my liking was added
honor and respect, Yes, and love. But still I urged

(08:51):
him to go on ahead, insisting that if he could
reach his people, he might be able to bring out
a sufficient force to drive off the Sagoths and rescue
and myself. No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was
all there was to it. But he suggested that Hooja
might hurry on and warn the Sarians of the king's danger.

(09:12):
It didn't require much urging to start Hooja. The naked
idea was enough to send him leaping on ahead of
us into the foothills which we now had reached. Perry
realized that he was jeopardizing Ghak's life and mine, and
the old fellow fairly begged us to go on without him,
although I knew that he was suffering a perfect anguish

(09:32):
of terror at the thought of falling into the hands
of the Sagoths. Ghak finally solved the problem in part
by lifting Perry in his powerful arms and carrying him.
While the act cut down Ghak's speed, he still could
travel faster thus than when half supporting the stumbling old man.

(09:52):
End of Chapter twelve.