Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-04-06


all over again TO Gr-gr-gr the nature OF
my mission. He listened attentively; after
had gone he offered to send some OF his
people with me to guide me to Hoota's
village, I was not slow in accepting his
offer.
First, however, we must eat. The hunt
ers upon whom Hooja's men had fallen
had brought back the meat of a great thae
| There would be feast to commemorate the
victory--a feast and dancing.
had never witnessed a tribal function
Of the brute.folk, though ] had often heard
strange sounds coming from the village,
where I had not been allowed since my
capture. Now took part in one of their
orgies.
1t will live forever in my memory The
combination of bestiaity and humanity was
oftentimes pathetic and again grotesque or
horrible. Beneath the garing monday sun,
in the sweltering heat OF the mesa top.
the huge, hairy creatures leaped In a great
circle. They coiled and threw their fiber
ropes they hurled taunts and insults at an
imaginary foe; they fell upon the carcass
| of the thag and literally tore II to pieces;
| and they ceased only when, gorged, they
could no longer move.
| had to wait until the process of diges-
| tion had released my escort from its torpor.
Some had eaten until their abdomens were
| so distended that l thought they must burst.
| for beside the thag there had been fully
dHlelOpeS OF various sizes ana
varied degrees of decomposition, which they
| had unearthed from burial beneath the
| floors of their lairs to grace the banquet
| board
| But at last we were started--six great
| males and myself Gr-gr-gr had returned
| my weapons to me, and at last I once
| more upon my oft-interrupted way toward
| my goal Whether I should find Dian at
| the end of my journey not | could not
even surmise; but I was none the less inn
| patient to be off, for If only tho worst
lay In store for me | wished TO know even
| the worst at once.
could scarce believe that my proud
| mate would still be alive in the power of
! liooja but time upon Pellucidar is so
| strange thing that / realized that to her
| or TO him only few minutes might have
elapsed since his subtle trckery had en-
| abled him to steal her away from Phutra
i Or she might have found the means either
| to repel his advances or escape him.
! AS we descended the cliff we disturbed
a great pack Of large hyena-like beasts
| hyaena spelaeus. Perry calls them - who
! were busy among the corpses of the cave
| men fallen in battle. The ugly creatures
| were far from the cowardly things that our
own hyenas are reputed to be; they stood
their ground with barred fangs as we APP
preached them. But, as I was later to
learn. so formidable are the brute-folk that
there are few even of the larger carnvora
that will not make way for them when they
go abroad. SO the hyenas moved little
from our line of march. closing in again
upon their feasts when we had passed
We made our way steadily down the
rim of the beautiful river which flows the
length of the island coming at last to a
wood rather denser than any that | had
before encountered in this country. We'll
within this forest my escort halted
There" they said and pointed ahead
We are to go no farther.
L,,, laI IaGt i1lt n
they left me. Ahead of me, through the
trees. I could see what appeared to be the
foot of steep hill. Toward this | made
my way. The forest ran to the very base
of a cliff, in the face of which were the
mouths of many caves They appeared un
tenanted: but | decided to watch for 9
while before venturing farther. A large
tree, densely foliaged, offered splendic
vantage point from which to spy upon thu
! cliff, so 7 clambered among its branches
where, securely hidden, could watch wha
transpired about the caves.
II seemed that had scarcely settled my
self in a comfortable position before
party Of cave men emerged from one o
the smaller apertures In the cliff face, abou
fifty feet from the base. They descende
into the forest and disappeared. Soon afte
came several others from the same cave
$ score of women and children. who cam
I into the wood to gather fruit, There wer
several warriors with them-a guard,
4 presume.
, After this came other parties, and tw
or three groups who passed out OF tn
n | forest and up the cliff face to enter tn
. ! same cave. ! could not understand 1t. Al
who had come out had emerged from tn
, same cave. All who returned re-entered II
+ No other cave gave evidence of habitatior
and no cave but one of extraordinary siz
could have accommodated all the peopl
: whom | had seen pass in and out OF II
mouth. For long time ] sat and watche'
the coming and going of great number
of the cave folk. Not once did one leav
the cliff by any other opening save tha
, from which I had seen the first part!
. come, nor did any re-enter the chH throug
. another aperture.
What a cave il must be, ! thought, tha
houses an entire tribe But, DISSATISFIED
of the truth of my surmse. climbed highe
! among the branches of the tree that migh
$ pet a better view of other portions of tn
! cliff High above the ground / reached
2 | point where could see the summit of tn
] hill. Evidently it was flat-topped butt
4 similar to that on which dwelt the trib
> of Gr-gr-gr
As sat gazing at 1t a figure appeare
at the very edge. 1t was that of younl
) girl in whose hair was gorgeous nioon
I nIucked from some Towering tree OF tn
S forest | had seen her pass beneath M
4 hut a short while before and enter the smal
! cave that had swallowed all of the re
. turning tribesmen.
The mystery was solved The cave wa
7 but the mouth of a passage that led up
ward through the cliff to the summit o
. | tho hill. 1t served merely as an avenu
: from their lofty citadel to the valley belo"
\ No sooner had the truth flashed upo
I me than the realization came that mus
s seek some other, means OF reaching TN
8 village. for to pass unobserved through Uni
welItrayeled thoroughfare would be I'm
!. nossible. At the moment there was no on
e in sight below me, so | slid quickly fror
: my arboreal watch tower to the groun
d and moved rapidly away to the right wit
I ,hs Intention of circling the hill II neces
o sarv until ! had found an unmatched spo
/, ,,hsre I might have some slight chance G
/. scaling the heights and reaehins the 10
unseen.
r CONTINUED TOMORROW
KnickerhOcker Ayrh SAhN Snt hsa