登陆注册
5694500000028

第28章

I wish now that I had not left the arena for by this time my friends and I might have made good our escape, whereas this delay may mean the wrecking of all our plans, which depended for their consummation upon the continued sleep of the three Mahars who lay in the pit beneath the building in which we were confined.""You would return to captivity?" cried Ja.

"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends Ihave in Pellucidar, except yourself. What else may Ido under the circumstances?"

He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head sorrowfully.

"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do,"he said; "yet it seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemn you to death for running away, and so you will be accomplishing nothing for your friends by returning. Never in all my life have I heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will.

There are but few who escape them, though some do, and these would rather die than be recaptured.""I see no other way, Ja," I said, "though I can assure you that I would rather go to Sheol after Perry than to Phutra. However, Perry is much too pious to make the probability at all great that I should ever be called upon to rescue him from the former locality."Ja asked me what Sheol was, and when I explained, as best I could, he said, "You are speaking of Molop Az, the flaming sea upon which Pellucidar floats. All the dead who are buried in the ground go there. Piece by piece they are carried down to Molop Az by the little demons who dwell there.

We know this because when graves are opened we find that the bodies have been partially or entirely borne off.

That is why we of Anoroc place our dead in high trees where the birds may find them and bear them bit by bit to the Dead World above the Land of Awful Shadow.

If we kill an enemy we place his body in the ground that it may go to Molop Az."As we talked we had been walking up the canyon down which I had come to the great ocean and the sithic.

Ja did his best to dissuade me from returning to Phutra, but when he saw that I was determined to do so, he consented to guide me to a point from which I could see the plain where lay the city. To my surprise the distance was but short from the beach where I had again met Ja.

It was evident that I had spent much time following the windings of a tortuous canon, while just beyond the ridge lay the city of Phutra near to which I must have come several times.

As we topped the ridge and saw the granite gate towers dotting the flowered plain at our feet Ja made a final effort to persuade me to abandon my mad purpose and return with him to Anoroc, but I was firm in my resolve, and at last he bid me good-bye, assured in his own mind that he was looking upon me for the last time.

I was sorry to part with Ja, for I had come to like him very much indeed. With his hidden city upon the island of Anoroc as a base, and his savage warriors as escort Perry and I could have accomplished much in the line of exploration, and I hoped that were we successful in our effort to escape we might return to Anoroc later.

There was, however, one great thing to be accomplished first--at least it was the great thing to me--the finding of Dian the Beautiful. I wanted to make amends for the affront I had put upon her in my ignorance, and I wanted to--well, I wanted to see her again, and to be with her.

Down the hillside I made my way into the gorgeous field of flowers, and then across the rolling land toward the shadowless columns that guard the ways to buried Phutra.

At a quarter-mile from the nearest entrance I was discovered by the Sagoth guard, and in an instant four of the gorilla-men were dashing toward me.

Though they brandished their long spears and yelled like wild Comanches I paid not the slightest attention to them, walking quietly toward them as though unaware of their existence. My manner had the effect upon them that I had hoped, and as we came quite near together they ceased their savage shouting. It was evident that they had expected me to turn and flee at sight of them, thus presenting that which they most enjoyed, a moving human target at which to cast their spears.

"What do you here?" shouted one, and then as he recognized me, "Ho! It is the slave who claims to be from another world--he who escaped when the thag ran amuck within the amphitheater.

But why do you return, having once made good your escape?""I did not 'escape'," I replied. "I but ran away to avoid the thag, as did others, and coming into a long passage I became confused and lost my way in the foothills beyond Phutra. Only now have I found my way back.""And you come of your free will back to Phutra!"exclaimed one of the guardsmen.

"Where else might I go?" I asked. "I am a stranger within Pellucidar and know no other where than Phutra.

Why should I not desire to be in Phutra? Am I not well fed and well treated? Am I not happy? What better lot could man desire?"The Sagoths scratched their heads. This was a new one on them, and so being stupid brutes they took me to their masters whom they felt would be better fitted to solve the riddle of my return, for riddle they still considered it.

I had spoken to the Sagoths as I had for the purpose of throwing them off the scent of my purposed attempt at escape. If they thought that I was so satisfied with my lot within Phutra that I would voluntarily return when I had once had so excellent an opportunity to escape, they would never for an instant imagine that I could be occupied in arranging another escape immediately upon my return to the city.

So they led me before a slimy Mahar who clung to a slimy rock within the large room that was the thing's office.

With cold, reptilian eyes the creature seemed to bore through the thin veneer of my deceit and read my inmost thoughts.

It heeded the story which the Sagoths told of my return to Phutra, watching the gorilla-men's lips and fingers during the recital. Then it questioned me through one of the Sagoths.

同类推荐
  • 道德真经解

    道德真经解

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Bulfinch's Mythology

    Bulfinch's Mythology

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Good Indian

    Good Indian

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • A Child's History of England

    A Child's History of England

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 洞玄子

    洞玄子

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 向军队学执行

    向军队学执行

    这个世界上培养更多高级别管理人才的,不是MBA商学院,而是军队与军校,如美国的西点军校,自“二战”后美国500强企业卓越的管理者大多出自于此。军队是这个世界上极有效率、执行力超强的组织!军校也培养出这个世界上更多更高级别的管理精英,但毫无疑问,纯粹的军事化管理并不完全适合现代的企业,就连美国部队都是将商业化与军事化进行融合,既提高了效率又节约了成本。百万管理畅销书《给你一个团队,你能怎么管?》作者赵伟,经十年研究,将MBA商学院管理精华与军事化管理精华完美融合。
  • 逆天神女:扑倒妖孽师父

    逆天神女:扑倒妖孽师父

    古人有云:不可随意开棺。可是云筱莜偏偏不信这个邪,结果嘞,开出一个超级无敌的美男子,可是这货居然要当自己的师父!!!还说:“乖徒儿,想要成为绝世天才吗?”
  • 星际争霸全服大穿越

    星际争霸全服大穿越

    在网吧打星际争霸随便选个阵营都能穿越,而且所有的玩家都穿越了,所有职业玩家全部惨遭毒奶。这一切是人性的泯灭还是良心的流失,其中一定有肮脏的PY交易。剧情向加龙傲天向。(好吧,作者坦白的确有点鬼畜。)
  • 张文襄公事略

    张文襄公事略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 吾乃太后

    吾乃太后

    一把折扇,展开一段佳话。一身红装,映衬一个朝代。一个女人,书写一生传奇。宫墙内外,阴阳相隔。若流萤不死,轻罗不腐,那这独坐深宫的,便非我一人。尔妻为我,吾乃太后。
  • 死亡传说:粉骷髅之恋

    死亡传说:粉骷髅之恋

    我是一个普通的女人,几百年后是一具没有肉体,没有灵魂的粉骷髅。有一天,我的灵魂觉醒了,在与人类的接触中,我发觉,我爱上了一个人类的男人。被光明视为邪恶的我是选择黑暗的永生?还是选择也许没有结果的爱情?
  • 香·谋

    香·谋

    每一次精心策划的谋杀,都有难言的杀意。日本的佛家高僧一休大师曾经说过一句禅语:“入佛界易,入魔界难。”这句话什么意思?我可以在这个故事开始之前,将凶手的名字告诉你。可是,凶手的心里到底暗藏着怎样的“杀意”,我们暂且不得而知。俗语说,放下屠刀立地成佛。有时候,举起屠刀比放下屠刀还难。人之所以举刀是因为放不下心头的“杀意”。在侦探的世界里,将一个案情解析得纹理清晰并不困难,但是,要探潜凶手的杀意,好比探索世界上最为深不可测的海峡。因为,你是在探索人心。在这个故事里,这个放不下杀意的人叫“林夕”。
  • 穿越之王妃有任务

    穿越之王妃有任务

    穿越醒来,人家是娉婷少女,我却是襁褓婴儿,好不容易活到了十八岁,却被卷入了一场阴谋当中,其实我只想过坐吃等死,嫁人生子的平凡日子,再不济斗斗家中姨娘,庶子庶女,仅此而已,真没想过完成什么任务!哎,吃人嘴短,拿人手软,十八年的养育之恩还是得报的,完成任务就完成任务呗……临行前,额……皇上赐婚,我有老公了,咦,慢着!怎么会是他,腹黑就算了,还丑……怎么办?能退婚吗?
  • 绝品女仙

    绝品女仙

    大荒八十万年,灵气枯竭,所有符文法宝都通过研究改造,变成低耗灵气,甚至不需要灵气的存在。池青,专门研究如何最大限度利用灵气,低耗灵气运转符文法宝的专家,因为一次事故,意外穿越回八十万年前,灵气充足,修仙最鼎盛时期。于是,池青开始了认认真真修炼、勤勤恳恳努力的日子。【欢迎看新书《伯府庶出》最不被看好的伯府庶子之女,一不小心拐了当朝最有权势的镇军大将军。】
  • 圣魂丹帝

    圣魂丹帝

    修炼一脉,神魂主体,又分别分成两种路径,一条是炼体,分别是灌气,入门,珐髓,易筋,元铁身,元铜身,元金身,元化身,圣身,圣魂。二条是精神力,内修,战斗力不如前者,但心态稳固,进境更快,分别是,观气,蕴气,养灵,灵初,御阵,身阵,阵皇,阵帝。其中御阵又分为三个等级,是指通过操控五形不同元素的阵,达到攻击敌人的目的。