Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-11
AT THE EARTHS CORE
BY EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS AUTHOR oerARzAN"

on all sides. Fortunately, there was a
| great concourse of Mahars repairing to
the shallow lake which lies mile or more
] from the city
They go there to indulge their amphib-
| ian proclivties in diving for small fish
| and enjoying the cool depths of The water,
| 1t is fresh-water lakc-shallow and free
! from the larger reptiles which make the
. use of the great seas of Pelluntdar impos-
siblc for any but their own kind
In the thick of the crowd we passed
, up the steps and out on to the plain For
| some distance Ghak remained with the
stream that was travelling toward the
! lake but finally at the bottom of little
gully he halted and there we remained
! until all had passed and we were alone.
| Then still in our disguscs, we set off di-
rectly away from Phutra.
The heat of the vertical rays Of the sun
was fast making our horrible prisons un-
bearable. so that after passing a low di-
vide and entering shcltcring forest we
finally discarded the Mahar skins that had
brought us thus far im safety.
| shall not weary you with the de-
tails of that bitter and CALLING flight
how we Travelled at doggcd run un-
til we dropped in our tracks; how we
were beset by strange and terrible beasts
how we barely escaped the cruel fangs of
lions and tigers the size Of which would
dwarf into pitiful nsignlfCance the great
est felincs of the outer world.
on and on we raced. our one thought
to put aS much distance between ourselves
and phutra rs possible. Chalk was lead
ing us to his own land-the land of Sari.
No sign of pursuit had developed, ana
yet we were sure that somewhere behind
us relentless SagOths were dOgging our
tracks. Ghak said they never failed to
hunt down their quarry until they had
captured it or themselves had been turned
back by a superior force.
our only hope, he said lay In reach
ing his tribe, which was quite strong
enough in their mountain fastness to beat
off any number of SaGoths
And at last after what seemed months,
and may, now realize. have been years.
we came in sight of tho dun cscarpment
which buttrcssed the foothills of Sari
At almost the same time Hooja, who
looked ever quite as much behind as be-
fore, announced that he could see a body
of men far behind us. topping a low ridge
in our wake. It was the lonG-eXpected
pursuit.
| asked Ghal< if we could make Sari
in time to escape them.
we may" he replied. But you will
find that the Sagoths can move with In.
credible swiftness, and as they are al.
most tireless they are do:jtless much
frcsher than we. Then-' he paused,
giancing at Perry.
I knew what he meant. The old man
was nearly exhausted. For much of the
period of our flight either Ghak or had
half supported him on the march. with
such "A handicap less fleet pursuers than
the Sagoths might easily overtake us be.
fore we could scale the rugged heights
which confronted us.
you and Hooja go on ahead" | said.
Perry and shall make it If we are able
we cannot travel as rapidly as you two,
and there Is no reason why all should be
lost because of that 1t can't be helped.
We have simply to face it."
81 will not desert a companion" was
Ghaks simple reply.
| hadn't believed that this great hairy.
primeval man had any such nobility of
character slowed away inside him. l had
always liked him, but now to my liking
was added honor and respect. Yes, and
love.
But still I urged him to go on ahead,
insisting that If he could reach his people
he might be able to bring out sufficient
force to drive off the Sagoths and rescue
Perry and myself.
No, he wouldn't leave us, and that was
all there was to it; but he suggested that
HoOja might hurry on and warn the Sa-
rians of their kings danger. 1t t.-nt
require much urging to start Hooja; the