Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-29
AT THE EARTHS CORE
BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS AUTHOR oerApzAr

nut within 1t was partially molten mat.
Ter and highly expanded gases.
AS 1t continued to cool, what han.
| pened! Centrifugal force hurled the par.
| tlcles OF the nebulous centre toward the
crust as rapidly as they approached q
SOLID state. You have seen the same prln.
ciple applied in the modern cream sep
arator. Presently there was only a small
| super-heated core of gaseous matter re-
naming within huge vacant interior left
oy the contraction of the cooling gases.
THE equal attraction of the solid crust
from all directions maintained this lu-
minous core in the exact centre of the
| hollow globe. What remains of IL is the
| sun you saw today-a relatively tiny
| thing at the exact centre of the earth.
| Equally to every part of this inner world
| II diituses its perpetual MONDAY light and
| torrid heat.
This inner world must have cooled
sufticiently to support animal life long
ages after life appeared upon the outer
| crust, but that the same agencies were
at work here is evident from the similar
! forms of both animal and vegetable crea-
| tton which we have already seen
rake the great beast which attacked
up, for example. Unquestionably Coun-
terpart of the Megatherium of the post
pliocene period of the outer crust, whose
fossilized skeleton has been found in
South America"
But the grotesque inhabitants of this
forest" l urged. Surely they have no
counterpart in the earth's history"
who can tell2" he rejoined "They
may constitute the link between ape and
man. all traces of which have been
swallowed by the countless convulsions
which have ransacked the outer crust, or
they may be merely the result of evolu-
tion along slightly different lines. Either
theory is quite possible"
Further speculation was interrupted by
the appearance of several of our captors
before the entrance of the hut. Two of
them entered and dragged us forth The
perilous pathways and the surrounding
trees were filled with the black ape-men
their females and their young. There
was not an ornament, a weapon, or a
garment among the lot.
quite low in the scale of creation"
commented Perry.
quite high enough 20 play the deuce
with us, though" 1 replied. Now what
do you suppose they intend doing with
us?"
We were not long in learning
As on the occasion of our trip to the
village, we were seized by couple of the
powerful creatures and whirled away
through the tree-tops, while about us and
grnning horde of sleek, black ape.things
Twice my bearers missed their foot
ing, and my heart ceased beating as we
plunged toward instant death among the
tangled dead wood beneath. But on both
occasions those 1.-THE, powerful tails
reached out and found sustaining
branches, nor did either of the creatures
loosen their grasp upon me- In fact, 1t
seemed that the incidents were of no
greater moment to them than would be
the stubbing of ones toe at a street
crossing in the outer world--they but
laughed uproariously and sped on with
me.
For some time they continued through
the forest-how long l could not guess,
for l was learning what was later borne
very forcefully to my mind, that time
ceases to be a factor the moment means
for measuring it cease to exist.
Our watches were gone and we were
living beneath a stationary sun. AL
ready 1 was puzzled to compute the Pc
riod of time which had elapsed since we
broke through the crust of the inner