September 24, 2025 • 13 mins
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.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter thirteen of At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
This LibriVox according is in the public domain. At the
Earth's Core, Chapter thirteen, The Sly One. The Sagoths were
gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted us,
(00:20):
they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we
stumbled up the narrow canyon that Ghek had chosen to
approach the heights of Sarre. On either side rose precipitous
cliffs of gorgeous party colored rock, while beneath our feet
a thick mountain grass formed a soft and noiseless carpet.
Since we had entered the canyon, we had had no
(00:42):
glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing to hope
that they had lost our trail, and that we would
reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale
them before we should be overtaken ahead. We neither saw
nor heard any sign which might betoken the success of
Juja's mission. By now, he should have reached the outposts
(01:03):
of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the
savage cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed arms in
answer to their king's appeal for succor in another moment,
the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with primeval warriors,
but nothing of the kind happened. As a matter of fact,
the sly one had betrayed us at the moment that
(01:25):
we expected to see Sarian spearmen charging to our relief
at Hooja's back. The craven trader was sneaking around the
outskirts of the nearest Sarian village that he might come
up from the other side when it was too late
to save us, claiming that he had become lost among
the mountains. Hooja still harbored ill will against me because
(01:45):
of the blow I had struck in Dion's protection, and
his malevolent spirit was equal to sacrificing us all that
he might be revenged upon me. As we drew nearer
the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians appeared,
Ghek became both angry and alarmed, and presently, as the
sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he
(02:08):
called to me over his shoulder that we were lost.
A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first
of the Sagoths at the far end of a considerable
stretch of canyon through which we had just passed, and
then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view,
but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind
us was evidence that the guerrilla men had sighted us again.
(02:32):
The canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the
right another branch ran on at a lesser deviation from
the general direction, so that appeared more like the main
canyon than the left hand branch. The Sagoths were now
not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and
I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect
to escape other than by a ruse. There was a
(02:55):
bare chance of saving Ghek and Parry, and as I
reached the branching of the canyon, I took the chance.
Pausing there, I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight.
Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the
left hand canyon, and as the sagoths savage yell announced
that he had seen me, I turned and fled up
(03:15):
the right hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the
entire party of manhunters raced headlong after me up one canyon,
while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other. Running
has never been my particular athletic forte. And now, when
my very life depended upon fleetness of foot, I cannot
(03:36):
say that I ran any better than on the occasions
when my pitiful base running had called down upon my
head the ruder's raucous and reproachful cries of ice wagon
and call a cab. The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly.
There was one, in particular, fleeter than his fellows, who
was perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit,
(04:00):
rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed a
pass between two a budding peaks. What lay beyond I
could not even guess, possibly a sheer drop of hundreds
of feet into the corresponding valley upon the other side.
Could it be that I had plunged into a cul
de sac. Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance
(04:21):
the Sagoths to the top of the canyon, I had
determined to risk all in an attempt to check them temporarily,
and to this end had unslung my rudely made bow
and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver, which hung
behind my shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my
right hand, I stopped and wheeled toward the gorilla man.
(04:42):
In the world of my birth I never had drawn
a shaft. But since our escape from Phutra, I had
kept the party supplied with small game by means of
my arrows, and so through necessity, had developed a fair
degree of accuracy. During our flight from Putra, I had
restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken
from a huge tiger, which Ghak and I had worried
(05:04):
and finally dispatched with arrows, spear and sword. The hard
wood of the bow was extremely tough, and this, with
the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave me
unwonted confidence in my weapon. Never had I greater need
of steady nerves than then. Never were my nerves and
muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and deliberately
(05:28):
as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never
before seen a bow and arrow, But of a sudden
it must have swept over his dull intellect that the
thing I held toward him was some sort of engine
of destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously
swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one of
the many methods in which they employ this weapon, and
(05:50):
the accuracy of aim which they achieve even under the
most unfavorable circumstances is little short of miraculous. My shaft
was drawn back its full length, my eye had centered
its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary,
and then he launched his hatchet, and I released my
arrow at the instant that our missiles flew. I leaped
(06:13):
to one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow
up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the
swish of the hatchet as it grazed my head, and
at the same instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart,
and with a single groan, he lunged almost at my
feet stone dead. Close behind him were two more fifty yards, perhaps,
(06:37):
but the distance gave me time to snatch up the
dead guardsmen's shield, for the close call his hatchet had
just given me had borne in upon me the urgent
need I had for one those which I had purloined
at phutra we had not been able to bring along
because their size precluded our concealing them within the skins
of the Mahars, which had brought us safely from the city.
(06:59):
With the shield slipped well up on my left arm,
I let fly with another arrow, which brought down a
second sagoth, and then, as his fellow's hatchet sped toward me,
I caught it upon the shield and fitted another shaft
for him, But he did not wait to receive it. Instead,
he turned and retreated toward the main body of guerrilla men.
(07:20):
Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment.
Once more, I took up my flight. Nor were the
sagoths apparently over anxious to press their pursuit so closely
as before. Unmolested, I reached the top of the canyon,
where I found a sheer drop of two or three
hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm, but
(07:41):
on the left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of
the overhanging cliff. Along this I advanced, and at a
sudden turning a few yards beyond the canyon's end, the
path widened, and at my left I saw the opening
to a large cave. Before the ledge continued until it
passed from sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain.
(08:03):
Here I felt I could defy an army, for but
a single foement could advance upon me at a time.
Nor could he know that I was awaiting him until
he came full upon me around the corner of the urn.
About me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above.
They were of various sizes and shapes, but enough were
of handy dimensions for use as ammunition in lieu of
(08:26):
my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones into a
little pile beside the mouth of the cave, I waited
the advance of the Sagoths. As I stood there, tense
and silent, listening for the first faint sound that should
announce the approach of my enemies. A slight noise from
within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. It might
(08:49):
have been produced by the moving of the great body
of some huge beast rising from the rock floor of
its lair. At almost the same instant, I thought that
I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge
beyond the turn. For the next few seconds, my attention
was considerably divided, and then from the inky blackness at
my right, I saw two flaming eyes glaring into mine.
(09:13):
They were on a level that was over two feet
above my head. It is true that the beast who
own them might be standing upon a ledge within the cave,
or that it might be rearing up upon its hind legs.
But I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar
to know that I might be facing some new and
frightful titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any
(09:36):
I had seen before. Whatever it was, it was coming
slowly toward the entrance of the cave, and now deep
and forbidding. It uttered a low and ominous growl. I
waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with
the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not
been loud, I doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all,
(09:58):
but the suggestion of le and possibilities behind it was
such that I knew it would only emanate from a
gigantic and ferocious beast. As I backed along the ledge,
I soon was past the mouth of the cave, where
I no longer could see those fearful, flaming eyes. But
an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face
(10:19):
of a Sagoth as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's
turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. As
the fellow saw me, he leaped along the ledge in pursuit,
and after him came as many of his companions as
could crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time,
the beast emerged from the cave, so that he and
the Sagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge.
(10:43):
The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal
bulk fully eight feet at the shoulder, while from the
tip of its nose to the end of its stubby
tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it
sighted the Sagoths, it emitted a most frightful roar, and
with open mouth, charged full upon them with a cry
(11:04):
of terror. The foremost guerrilla man turned to escape, but
behind him he ran full upon his on rushing companions.
The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The sagoth
nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and
leaped deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks
three hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out
(11:28):
and gathered in the next there was a sickening sound
of crushing bones, and the mangled corpse was dropped over
the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast even pause
in his steady advance along the ledge. Shrieking Sagoths were
now leaping madly over the precipice to escape him, and
the last I saw he rounded the turn, still pursuing
(11:49):
the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long
time I could hear the horrid roaring of the brute,
intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his victims. Until
fire the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared in the distance.
Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to
his tribesmen and returned with a party to rescue me,
(12:10):
that the Riff, as it is called, pursued the Sagoths
until it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak was, of
course positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible creature,
which within Pellucidar is truly the king of beasts. Not
caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might
fall prey, either to the cave Bear or the Sagoths.
(12:34):
I continued on along the ledge, believing that by following
around the mountain, I could reach the Land of Sari
from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the
twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I
did not come to the Land of Sari then, nor
for a long time thereafter. End of Chapter thirteen.
Chapter thirteen of At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
This LibriVox according is in the public domain. At the
Earth's Core, Chapter thirteen, The Sly One. The Sagoths were
gaining on us rapidly, for once they had sighted us,
(00:20):
they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we
stumbled up the narrow canyon that Ghek had chosen to
approach the heights of Sarre. On either side rose precipitous
cliffs of gorgeous party colored rock, while beneath our feet
a thick mountain grass formed a soft and noiseless carpet.
Since we had entered the canyon, we had had no
(00:42):
glimpse of our pursuers, and I was commencing to hope
that they had lost our trail, and that we would
reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs in time to scale
them before we should be overtaken ahead. We neither saw
nor heard any sign which might betoken the success of
Juja's mission. By now, he should have reached the outposts
(01:03):
of the Sarians, and we should at least hear the
savage cries of the tribesmen as they swarmed arms in
answer to their king's appeal for succor in another moment,
the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with primeval warriors,
but nothing of the kind happened. As a matter of fact,
the sly one had betrayed us at the moment that
(01:25):
we expected to see Sarian spearmen charging to our relief
at Hooja's back. The craven trader was sneaking around the
outskirts of the nearest Sarian village that he might come
up from the other side when it was too late
to save us, claiming that he had become lost among
the mountains. Hooja still harbored ill will against me because
(01:45):
of the blow I had struck in Dion's protection, and
his malevolent spirit was equal to sacrificing us all that
he might be revenged upon me. As we drew nearer
the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians appeared,
Ghek became both angry and alarmed, and presently, as the
sound of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he
(02:08):
called to me over his shoulder that we were lost.
A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first
of the Sagoths at the far end of a considerable
stretch of canyon through which we had just passed, and
then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view,
but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind
us was evidence that the guerrilla men had sighted us again.
(02:32):
The canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the
right another branch ran on at a lesser deviation from
the general direction, so that appeared more like the main
canyon than the left hand branch. The Sagoths were now
not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and
I saw that it was hopeless for us to expect
to escape other than by a ruse. There was a
(02:55):
bare chance of saving Ghek and Parry, and as I
reached the branching of the canyon, I took the chance.
Pausing there, I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight.
Ghak and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the
left hand canyon, and as the sagoths savage yell announced
that he had seen me, I turned and fled up
(03:15):
the right hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the
entire party of manhunters raced headlong after me up one canyon,
while Ghak bore Perry to safety up the other. Running
has never been my particular athletic forte. And now, when
my very life depended upon fleetness of foot, I cannot
(03:36):
say that I ran any better than on the occasions
when my pitiful base running had called down upon my
head the ruder's raucous and reproachful cries of ice wagon
and call a cab. The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly.
There was one, in particular, fleeter than his fellows, who
was perilously close. The canyon had become a rocky slit,
(04:00):
rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed a
pass between two a budding peaks. What lay beyond I
could not even guess, possibly a sheer drop of hundreds
of feet into the corresponding valley upon the other side.
Could it be that I had plunged into a cul
de sac. Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance
(04:21):
the Sagoths to the top of the canyon, I had
determined to risk all in an attempt to check them temporarily,
and to this end had unslung my rudely made bow
and plucked an arrow from the skin quiver, which hung
behind my shoulder. As I fitted the shaft with my
right hand, I stopped and wheeled toward the gorilla man.
(04:42):
In the world of my birth I never had drawn
a shaft. But since our escape from Phutra, I had
kept the party supplied with small game by means of
my arrows, and so through necessity, had developed a fair
degree of accuracy. During our flight from Putra, I had
restrung my bow with a piece of heavy gut taken
from a huge tiger, which Ghak and I had worried
(05:04):
and finally dispatched with arrows, spear and sword. The hard
wood of the bow was extremely tough, and this, with
the strength and elasticity of my new string, gave me
unwonted confidence in my weapon. Never had I greater need
of steady nerves than then. Never were my nerves and
muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and deliberately
(05:28):
as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never
before seen a bow and arrow, But of a sudden
it must have swept over his dull intellect that the
thing I held toward him was some sort of engine
of destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously
swinging his hatchet for a throw. It is one of
the many methods in which they employ this weapon, and
(05:50):
the accuracy of aim which they achieve even under the
most unfavorable circumstances is little short of miraculous. My shaft
was drawn back its full length, my eye had centered
its sharp point upon the left breast of my adversary,
and then he launched his hatchet, and I released my
arrow at the instant that our missiles flew. I leaped
(06:13):
to one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow
up his attack with a spear thrust. I felt the
swish of the hatchet as it grazed my head, and
at the same instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's savage heart,
and with a single groan, he lunged almost at my
feet stone dead. Close behind him were two more fifty yards, perhaps,
(06:37):
but the distance gave me time to snatch up the
dead guardsmen's shield, for the close call his hatchet had
just given me had borne in upon me the urgent
need I had for one those which I had purloined
at phutra we had not been able to bring along
because their size precluded our concealing them within the skins
of the Mahars, which had brought us safely from the city.
(06:59):
With the shield slipped well up on my left arm,
I let fly with another arrow, which brought down a
second sagoth, and then, as his fellow's hatchet sped toward me,
I caught it upon the shield and fitted another shaft
for him, But he did not wait to receive it. Instead,
he turned and retreated toward the main body of guerrilla men.
(07:20):
Evidently he had seen enough of me for the moment.
Once more, I took up my flight. Nor were the
sagoths apparently over anxious to press their pursuit so closely
as before. Unmolested, I reached the top of the canyon,
where I found a sheer drop of two or three
hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm, but
(07:41):
on the left a narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of
the overhanging cliff. Along this I advanced, and at a
sudden turning a few yards beyond the canyon's end, the
path widened, and at my left I saw the opening
to a large cave. Before the ledge continued until it
passed from sight about another projecting buttress of the mountain.
(08:03):
Here I felt I could defy an army, for but
a single foement could advance upon me at a time.
Nor could he know that I was awaiting him until
he came full upon me around the corner of the urn.
About me lay scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above.
They were of various sizes and shapes, but enough were
of handy dimensions for use as ammunition in lieu of
(08:26):
my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones into a
little pile beside the mouth of the cave, I waited
the advance of the Sagoths. As I stood there, tense
and silent, listening for the first faint sound that should
announce the approach of my enemies. A slight noise from
within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. It might
(08:49):
have been produced by the moving of the great body
of some huge beast rising from the rock floor of
its lair. At almost the same instant, I thought that
I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge
beyond the turn. For the next few seconds, my attention
was considerably divided, and then from the inky blackness at
my right, I saw two flaming eyes glaring into mine.
(09:13):
They were on a level that was over two feet
above my head. It is true that the beast who
own them might be standing upon a ledge within the cave,
or that it might be rearing up upon its hind legs.
But I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar
to know that I might be facing some new and
frightful titan whose dimensions and ferocity eclipsed those of any
(09:36):
I had seen before. Whatever it was, it was coming
slowly toward the entrance of the cave, and now deep
and forbidding. It uttered a low and ominous growl. I
waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with
the thing which owned that voice. The noise had not
been loud, I doubt if the Sagoths heard it at all,
(09:58):
but the suggestion of le and possibilities behind it was
such that I knew it would only emanate from a
gigantic and ferocious beast. As I backed along the ledge,
I soon was past the mouth of the cave, where
I no longer could see those fearful, flaming eyes. But
an instant later I caught sight of the fiendish face
(10:19):
of a Sagoth as it warily advanced beyond the cliff's
turn on the far side of the cave's mouth. As
the fellow saw me, he leaped along the ledge in pursuit,
and after him came as many of his companions as
could crowd upon each other's heels. At the same time,
the beast emerged from the cave, so that he and
the Sagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge.
(10:43):
The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal
bulk fully eight feet at the shoulder, while from the
tip of its nose to the end of its stubby
tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it
sighted the Sagoths, it emitted a most frightful roar, and
with open mouth, charged full upon them with a cry
(11:04):
of terror. The foremost guerrilla man turned to escape, but
behind him he ran full upon his on rushing companions.
The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The sagoth
nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and
leaped deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks
three hundred feet below. Then those giant jaws reached out
(11:28):
and gathered in the next there was a sickening sound
of crushing bones, and the mangled corpse was dropped over
the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast even pause
in his steady advance along the ledge. Shrieking Sagoths were
now leaping madly over the precipice to escape him, and
the last I saw he rounded the turn, still pursuing
(11:49):
the demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long
time I could hear the horrid roaring of the brute,
intermingled with the screams and shrieks of his victims. Until
fire the awful sounds dwindled and disappeared in the distance.
Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to
his tribesmen and returned with a party to rescue me,
(12:10):
that the Riff, as it is called, pursued the Sagoths
until it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak was, of
course positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible creature,
which within Pellucidar is truly the king of beasts. Not
caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might
fall prey, either to the cave Bear or the Sagoths.
(12:34):
I continued on along the ledge, believing that by following
around the mountain, I could reach the Land of Sari
from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the
twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I
did not come to the Land of Sari then, nor
for a long time thereafter. End of Chapter thirteen.
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