The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-02-02
TANAR OF PELLUCIDAR
By EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS rAaas zs IS 44 e APES

should hate TO be torn to pieces
by those horrible creatures"
4This is q much nicer death"
said Tanar, 'for when we are ex-
hausted sufficiently we shall simply
sleep and awake no more"
II do not wish to die" walled
Jude.
you never have seemed very
happy" said Tanar. "I should think
one as unhappy as you would be
glad to die"
Il enjoy being unhappy" said
Jude. u know that I should be
most miserable were happy and,
anyway, I should much rather be
alive and unhappy than dead and
unable TO know that I was un-
happy"
TAKE heart" said Tanar. ut
i can not be much farther to
the end Of this long corridor. Nov
came through it and he did not say
that it was so great length that
he became either exhausted or
hungry and he not only traversed
it from end to end in one direction,
but he had to turn around and re-
trace his steps after he reached the
opening into the cavern which we
left"
1.-The Coripies do not eat much;
they are accustomed to starving"
said Jude, "and they sleep less than
We
Perhaps you are right" said
Tanar, "but I am sure that We are
nearing the end"
II am" said Jude, 'but not the
end that I had wished"
Even as they discussed the matter
they were moving slowly along,
when far ahead Tanar discerned a
Slight luminosity.
Look" he said, there IS light.
We are nearing the end"
The discovery instilled new
strength into the men, and with
quickened steps they fastened along
the tunnel in the direction Of the
promised escape. AS they advanced,
the light became more apparent,
until finally they came to the point
where the tunnel they had been
traversing opened into a large cor
ridor, filed with a subdued light
from occasional patches Of phos-
phorescent rock in walls and cell
ing, but neither to the right nor
the left could they see any sign Of
daylight.
(Which way now7" demanded
Jude.
Tanar shook his head. ''I do not
know" he said
cat least shall not die in that
awful blackness," walled Jude, and
perhaps that factor of their SEEM
ingly inevitable doom had weighed
most heavily upon the two Pellu-
cidariansS for, living as these people
do beneath the brilliant rays Of a
perpetual MONDAY sun, darkness is
hideous and abhorrent thing TO
them, so unaccustonled are they
to it.
"TN this light, however slight it
l. may be-" said Tanar, 81 can no
longer be depressed. 7 am sure
that we shall escape"
'But which direction?" again de-
manded Jude.
II shall turn to the right" said
Tanar.
Jude shook his head. 'AThat prob
ably is the wrong direction" he said.
IF you know that the right direc-
ton lies to the Left said Tanar,
let us go to the left"
"I do not know" said Jude;
doubtless either direction is
wrong"
"All right" said Tanar, with q
laugh. eve shall go to the right"
and turning, he set on at brisk
walk along the larger corridor.
do you notice anything, Jude?"
asked Tanar.
mo. Why do you ask9" de-
n1anded the HiInean.
II smell fresh air from the upper
world" said Tanar, land if am
right we must be near the mouth
Of the tunnel"
Tanar was almost running now; ex-
haustion was forgotten in the IN
expected hope Of immediate de-
liverance. To be out in the fresh
air and the light of dayl To be free
from the hideous darkness and the
constant menace of recapture by the
hideous monsters of the underworld!
And across that bright hope, like a
sinister shadow, came the nulnbing
fear Of disappointment.
What, if, after all, the breath Of
air which was now clear and fresh
in their nostrils should prove to be
entering the corridor through some
unscalable shaft, such as the Well Of
Sounding Water into which he had
fallen upon his entrance into the
country Of the Buried People, or
what, If, at the moment Of escape,
they should meet a party Of the
Coripies?,
8 &
60 heavily did these thoughts
! weigh upon Tanar's mind that
he slackened his speed until once
again he moved at a slow walk.
What is the naatter?" demanded
! Jude. "a naonen ago you were