Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-04
AT THE EARTHS CORE
BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS, AUTHOR oeFrApzAN'

the very aspect Of which seemed to offer a
haven of peace and security.
The gently slopng beach along which
l walked was thicltly strewn with
strangely shaped, colored shells; some
empty others still housing as varied n
multitude of mollusks as might ever have
drawn out their sluggish lives along the
sllent shores of the antediluvIan seas of
the outer crust
AS l walked I could not but compare
myself with the first man Of that other
world so complete the solitude which sur.
rounded me. so primal and untouched the
virgin wonders and beauties of adolescen
nature. felt myself second Adam
vending my lonely way through the 2hild.
hood of world, searching for my Eve
and at the thought there rose before my
minds eye the exquisite outlines of a per.
feet face surmounted by n loose pile Of
wondrous raven hair.
As l walked my eyes were bent upon
the beach, so that it was not until had
come quite upon ii that | discovered that
which shattered all my beautiful dream
of solitude and safety and peace and pri.
NAL overlordship.
The thing was followed log drawn up
upon the sands, and in the bottom of II
lay n crude paddle,
The rude shock of awakening to what
llllBhA uDuDAltNN prove some new IOTln Oh
danger was still upon me when 1 heard
q rafting of loose stones from the drac.
tion of the buft, and, turning my eyes in
that direction, | bched the author of the
disturbance, great, Coppcr.Colored man.
running rapidly toward me-
There was that IN the haste with which
he came which seemed quite sufficiently
menaclng so that did not need the added
evidence of brandishing spear and scowl.
ing face to warn me that was in no safe
position; but whittier to flee was, indeed.
q momentous question.
The speed of the fellow seemed to pre-.
clude the possibility OF escaping him upon
the open beach There was but a single
alternativc-the rude skiff-and with
cclcrity which equaled his l pushed the
thing into the sea, and as 1t hoated gave
n final shove and clambered in over the
end
A cry of rage rose from the owner of
the primitive craft ana an instant later
his heavy, stone.tipped spear Erazed my
shoulder and buried itself In the bow of
the boat beyond. Then l grasped the
paddle, and with feverish haste urged the
awkward, wabbly thing out upon the sur.
face Of the sea.
glance over my shoulder showed me
that the copper.colored one had plunged in
after me and was swimming rapidly in
pursuit.
His mighty strokes bade fair to close up
the distance between us in short order, for
at best l could make but slow progress
with my unfamiliar craft. which nosed
stubbornly in every direction but that
which l desired to follow, so that fully
half my energy was expended in turning
its blunt Prov back into the course.
1 had covered some hundred yards from
shore when it became evident that my pur-
suer must grasp the stern OF the sltiff
within the next half dozen strokes. In a
frenzy of despair 1 bent to that ancestor
of all paddles in hopeless effort to es-
cape, and still the copper giant behind me
gained and gained.
His hand was reaching upward for the
stern when i saw a sleek, sinuous body
shoot from the depths below. The man
saw it. too, and the look of terror that
overspread his face assured me that I
need have no further concern as to him,
for the fear of certain death was in his
look.
And then about him coiled the great.
Shiny folds of a hideous monster of that
prehistoric deep-a mighty serpent of the
Sea, with fanged jaws and darting forked
tongue, with bulging eyes and bony pro-
tuberances upon head and snout that
formed short, stout horns.
AS / looked at that hopeless struggle
my eyes met those of the doomed man.
and l could have sworn that in his I saw
an expression of hopeless appeal.
But whether l did or not. there swept
through me q sudden compassion for the
fellow. He was indeed a brother man,
and that he might have killed me with
pleasure had he caught me was forgotten
in the extremity of his danger.
Unconsciously 1 had ceased padding as
the serpent rose to engage my pursuer,
so now the sklff still drifted close beside
the two.
The monster seemed to be but playing
with his victim before he closed his awful
Jaws upon him and dragged him down to
his dark den beneath the surface to de-
YOUR him.