Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-07
AT THE EARTHS ORE
BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS AUTHOR oTrApzu1r

piled. THE Mahars of Phutra ars M,
supposed to eat human flesh. vet siaves
are brought here by thousands and MOS,
| always you will find Mahars ON hand tn
| consume them ~
II imagine that they do not bring tbair
Sagoths here because they are ashamed M
the practice, which is supposed to Obtain
only among the least advanced of their
race put would wager my canoe against
| broken paddle that there is no NTahar
| but eats human flesh whenever she can
get It." ''''
why should they object to human
| flesh" 1 asked, "lf it is true that thev
| look upon us as lower animals?"
1T Is not because they consider us their
equals that they are supposed to look
with abhorrence upon those who eat our
| fesh," replied ia. ut Is merely that we
are warm.blooded animals"
They should not think Of eating the
| meat of thag which we consider such a
delicacy, any more than I would think Of
| eating snake. AS a matter Of fact IL ia
difficult to explain just why this sentiment
should exist among them"
'I wonder If they left single victim?"
remarked leaning far out of the open.
ing In the rocks wall to inspect the temple
better.
Directly below me the water lapped the
very side of the wall, there being a break
in the boulders at this point as there was
at several other places about the side of
the temple
My hands were resting upon a small
piece of granite which formed n part of
the wall, and all my weight upon IL proved
too much for it. 1t slipped and lunged
forward.
There was nothing to grasp to save my.
self, and plunged headforemost into the
water below.
Fortunately, the tank was deep at this
point, and / suffered no injury from the
fall. but as 1 was rising to the surface my
mind filled with the horrors Of my posi-
tion as 1 thought of the terrible doom
which awaited me the moment the eyes
OF the reptiles fell upon the creature that
had disturbed their slumber.
As long as 1 could remained beneath
the surface, swimming rapidly in the
direction of the islands, that 1 might pro.
long my life to the utmost.
At last 1 was forced to rise for air. and
as cast a terrified glance in the direction
of the Mahars and the thlpdars l was al
most stunned to see that not a single one
remained upon the rocks where had last
seen them, nor as l searched the temple
with my eyes could 1 discern any within
it.
For moment I was puzzled to account
for the thing, until I realized that the
reptiles being deaf, could not have been
disturbed by the noise my body made
when 1t hit the water, and that there is
no such thing as time within Pellucdar
there was no telling how long had been
beneath the surface.
1t was a difficult thing to attempt to
figure out by earthly standards-this mat
ter of elapsed time-but when I set my
self to it 1 began to realize that I might
have been submerged a second or month
or not at all. You have no conception Of
the strange contradictions and impossi-
bilties which rise when all methods of
measuring time, as we know them upon
earth, are noneXistent.
1 was about to congratulate myself
upon the miracle which had saved me for
the moment, when the memory of the hyp.
motto powers of the Mahars filed me with
apprehension lest they be practcing their
uncanny art upon me to the end that L
merely imagined l was alone in the tenn
pie.