CHAPTER X

Pellicudar

by Edgar R. Burroughs

CHAPTER X, PELLICUDAR by Edgar R. Burroughs
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THE RAID ON THE CAVE-PRISON

His head was turned over his shoulder as I first saw
him--he was looking back toward the village. As I
leaped for him his eyes fell upon me. Never in my life
have I seen a more surprised mortal than this poor cave
man. Before he could utter a single scream of warning or
alarm I had my fingers on his throat and had dragged
him behind the boulder, where I proceeded to sit upon
him, while I figured out what I had best do with him.

He struggled a little at first, but finally lay still, and
so I released the pressure of my fingers at his windpipe,
for which I imagine he was quite thankful--I know
that I should have been.

I hated to kill him in cold blood; but what else I was
to do with him I could not see, for to turn him loose
would have been merely to have the entire village
aroused and down upon me in a moment. The fellow
lay looking up at me with the surprise still deeply writ-
ten on his countenance. At last, all of a sudden, a look
of recognition entered his eyes.

"I have seen you before," he said. "I saw you in the
arena at the Mahars' city of Phutra when the thipdars
dragged the tarag from you and your mate. I never
understood that. Afterward they put me in the arena
with two warriors from Gombul."

He smiled in recollection.

"It would have been the same had there been ten
warriors from Gombul. I slew them, winning my free-
dom. Look!"

He half turned his left shoulder toward me, exhibiting
the newly healed scar of the Mahars' branded mark.

"Then," he continued, "as I was returning to my peo-
ple I met some of them fleeing. They told me that
one called Hooja the Sly One had come and seized our
village, putting our people into slavery. So I hurried
hither to learn the truth, and, sure enough, here I found
Hooja and his wicked men living in my village, and my
father's people but slaves among them.

"I was discovered and captured, but Hooja did not
kill me. I am the chief's son, and through me he hoped
to win my father's warriors back to the village to help
him in a great war he says that he will soon commence.

"Among his prisoners is Dian the Beautiful One,
whose brother, Dacor the Strong One, chief of Amoz,
once saved my life when he came to Thuria to steal a
mate. I helped him capture her, and we are good
friends. So when I learned that Dian the Beautiful One
was Hooja's prisoner, I told him that I would not aid him
if he harmed her.

"Recently one of Hooja's warriors overheard me talk-
ing with another prisoner. We were planning to combine
all the prisoners, seize weapons, and when most of
Hooja's warriors were away, slay the rest and retake our
hilltop. Had we done so we could have held it, for there
are only two entrances--the narrow tunnel at one end
and the steep path up the cliffs at the other.

"But when Hooja heard what we had planned he was
very angry, and ordered that I die. They bound me
hand and foot and placed me in a cave until all the
warriors should return to witness my death; but while
they were away I heard someone calling me in a
muffled voice which seemed to come from the wall of
the cave. When I replied the voice, which was
a woman's, told me that she had overheard all that
had passed between me and those who had brought me
thither, and that she was Dacor's sister and would find
a way to help me.

"Presently a little hole appeared in the wall at the
point from which the voice had come. After a time I
saw a woman's hand digging with a bit of stone. Dacor's
sister made a hole in the wall between the cave where
I lay bound and that in which she had been confined,
and soon she was by my side and had cut my bonds.

"We talked then, and I offered to make the attempt to
take her away and back to the land of Sari, where she
told me she would be able to learn the whereabouts of
her mate. Just now I was going to the other end of the
island to see if a boat lay there, and if the way was
clear for our escape. Most of the boats are always away
now, for a great many of Hooja's men and nearly all the
slaves are upon the Island of Trees, where Hooja is hav-
ing many boats built to carry his warriors across the
water to the mouth of a great river which he discovered
while he was returning from Phutra--a vast river that
empties into the sea there."

The speaker pointed toward the northeast.
"It is wide and smooth and slow-running almost to the
land of Sari," he added.

"And where is Dian the Beautiful One now?" I asked.

I had released my prisoner as soon as I found that he
was Hooja's enemy, and now the pair of us were squat-
ting beside the boulder while he told his story.

"She returned to the cave where she had been im-
prisoned," he replied, "and is awaiting me there."

"There is no danger that Hooja will come while you
are away?"

"Hooja is upon the Island of Trees," he replied.

"Can you direct me to the cave so that I can find it
alone?" I asked.

He said he could, and in the strange yet explicit fash-
ion of the Pellucidarians he explained minutely how I
might reach the cave where he had been imprisoned,
and through the hole in its wall reach Dian.

I thought it best for but one of us to return, since two
could accomplish but little more than one and would
double the risk of discovery. In the meantime he could
make his way to the sea and guard the boat, which I
told him lay there at the foot of the cliff.

I told him to await us at the cliff-top, and if Dian
came alone to do his best to get away with her and take
her to Sari, as I thought it quite possible that, in case of
detection and pursuit, it might be necessary for me to
hold off Hooja's people while Dian made her way alone
to where my new friend was to await her. I impressed
upon him the fact that he might have to resort to trick-
ery or even to force to get Dian to leave me; but I made
him promise that he would sacrifice everything, even his
life, in an attempt to rescue Dacor's sister.

Then we parted--he to take up his position where he
could watch the boat and await Dian, I to crawl cau-
tiously on toward the caves. I had no difficulty in fol-
lowing the directions given me by Juag, the name by
which Dacor's friend said he was called. There was the
leaning tree, my first point he told me to look for after
rounding the boulder where we had met. After that I
crawled to the balanced rock, a huge boulder resting
upon a tiny base no larger than the palm of your hand.

From here I had my first view of the village of caves.
A low bluff ran diagonally across one end of the mesa,
and in the face of this bluff were the mouths of many
caves. Zig-zag trails led up to them, and narrow ledges
scooped from the face of the soft rock connected those
upon the same level.

The cave in which Juag had been confined was at the
extreme end of the cliff nearest me. By taking advan-
tage of the bluff itself, I could approach within a few
feet of the aperture without being visible from any
other cave. There were few people about at the time;
most of these were congregated at the foot of the far
end of the bluff, where they were so engrossed in ex-
cited conversation that I felt but little fear of detection.
However I exercised the greatest care in approaching
the cliff. After watching for a while until I caught an in-
stant when every head was turned away from me, I
darted, rabbitlike, into the cave.

Like many of the man-made caves of Pellucidar, this
one consisted of three chambers, one behind another,
and all unlit except for what sunlight filtered in through
the external opening. The result was gradually increas-
ing darkness as one passed into each succeeding cham-
ber.

In the last of the three I could just distinguish objects,
and that was all. As I was groping around the walls
for the hole that should lead into the cave where Dian
was imprisoned, I heard a man's voice quite close to me.

The speaker had evidently but just entered, for he
spoke in a loud tone, demanding the whereabouts of
one whom he had come in search of.

"Where are you, woman?" he cried. "Hooja has sent
for you."

And then a woman's voice answered him:

"And what does Hooja want of me?"

The voice was Dian's. I groped in the direction of the
sounds, feeling for the hole.

"He wishes you brought to the Island of Trees,"
replied the man; "for he is ready to take you as his
mate."

"I will not go," said Dian. "I will die first."

"I am sent to bring you, and bring you I shall."

I could hear him crossing the cave toward her.

Frantically I clawed the wall of the cave in which I
was in an effort to find the elusive aperture that would
lead me to Dian's side.

I heard the sound of a scuffle in the next cave. Then
my fingers sank into loose rock and earth in the side
of the cave. In an instant I realized why I had been
unable to find the opening while I had been lightly
feeling the surface of the walls--Dian had blocked up
the hole she had made lest it arouse suspicion and
lead to an early discovery of Juag's escape.

Plunging my weight against the crumbling mass, I
sent it crashing into the adjoining cavern. With it came
I, David, Emperor of Pellucidar. I doubt if any other
potentate in a world's history ever made a more un-
dignified entrance. I landed head first on all fours, but
I came quickly and was on my feet before the man
in the dark guessed what had happened.

He saw me, though, when I arose and, sensing that
no friend came thus precipitately, turned to meet me
even as I charged him. I had my stone knife in my
hand, and he had his. In the darkness of the cave
there was little opportunity for a display of science,
though even at that I venture to say that we fought
a very pretty duel.

Before I came to Pellucidar I do not recall that I
ever had seen a stone knife, and I am sure that I never
fought with a knife of any description; but now I do
not have to take my hat off to any of them when it
comes to wielding that primitive yet wicked weapon.

I could just see Dian in the darkness, but I knew
that she could not see my features or recognize me;
and I enjoyed in anticipation, even while I was fighting
for her life and mine, her dear joy when she should
discover that it was I who was her deliverer.

My opponent was large, but he also was active and
no mean knife-man. He caught me once fairly in the
shoulder--I carry the scar yet, and shall carry it to
the grave. And then he did a foolish thing, for as I
leaped back to gain a second in which to calm the
shock of the wound he rushed after me and tried to
clinch. He rather neglected his knife for the moment
in his greater desire to get his hands on me. Seeing
the opening, I swung my left fist fairly to the point
of his jaw.

Down he went. Before ever he could scramble up
again I was on him and had buried my knife in his
heart. Then I stood up--and there was Dian facing
me and peering at me through the dense gloom.

"You are not Juag!" she exclaimed. "Who are you?"

I took a step toward her, my arms outstretched.

"It is I, Dian," I said. "It is David."

At the sound of my voice she gave a little cry in
which tears were mingled--a pathetic little cry that
told me all without words how far hope had gone from
her--and then she ran forward and threw herself in
my arms. I covered her perfect lips and her beautiful
face with kisses, and stroked her thick black hair, and
told her again and again what she already knew--what
she had known for years--that I loved her better
than all else which two worlds had to offer. We couldn't
devote much time, though, to the happiness of love-
making, for we were in the midst of enemies who
might discover us at any moment.

I drew her into the adjoining cave. Thence we made
our way to the mouth of the cave that had given me
entrance to the cliff. Here I reconnoitered for a mo-
ment, and seeing the coast clear, ran swiftly forth with
Dian at my side. We dodged around the cliff-end,
then paused for an instant, listening. No sound reached
our ears to indicate that any had seen us, and we
moved cautiously onward along the way by which I
had come.

As we went Dian told me that her captors had in-
formed her how close I had come in search of her--
even to the Land of Awful Shadow--and how one of
Hooja's men who knew me had discovered me asleep
and robbed me of all my possessions. And then how
Hooja had sent four others to find me and take me
prisoner. But these men, she said, had not yet re-
turned, or at least she had not heard of their return.

'Nor will you ever," I responded, "for they have gone
to that place whence none ever returns." I then related
my adventure with these four.

We had come almost to the cliff-edge where Juag
should be awaiting us when we saw two men walking
rapidly toward the same spot from another direction.
They did not see us, nor did they see Juag, whom I
now discovered hiding behind a low bush close to the
verge of the precipice which drops into the sea at this
point. As quickly as possible, without exposing our-
selves too much to the enemy, we hastened forward
that we might reach Juag as quickly as they.

But they noticed him first and immediately charged
him, for one of them had been his guard, and they
had both been sent to search for him, his escape having
been discovered between the time he left the cave
and the time when I reached it. Evidently they had
wasted precious moments looking for him in other
portions of the mesa.

When I saw that the two of them were rushing him,
I called out to attract their attention to the fact that
they had more than a single man to cope with. They
paused at the sound of my voice and looked about.

When they discovered Dian and me they exchanged
a few words, and one of them continued toward Juag
while the other turned upon us. As he came nearer
I saw that he carried in his hand one of my six-shooters,
but he was holding it by the barrel, evidently mistaking
it for some sort of warclub or tomahawk.

I could scarce refrain a grin when I thought of the
wasted possibilities of that deadly revolver in the hands
of an untutored warrior of the stone age. Had he but
reversed it and pulled the trigger he might still be
alive; maybe he is for all I know, since I did not kill
him then. When he was about twenty feet from me
I flung my javelin with a quick movement that I had
learned from Ghak. He ducked to avoid it, and instead
of receiving it in his heart, for which it was intended,
he got it on the side of the head.

Down he went all in a heap. Then I glanced toward
Juag. He was having a most exciting time. The fellow
pitted against Juag was a veritable giant; he was hack-
ing and hewing away at the poor slave with a villainous-
looking knife that might have been designed for butch-
ering mastodons. Step by step, he was forcing Juag
back toward the edge of the cliff with a fiendish cunning
that permitted his adversary no chance to side-step
the terrible consequences of retreat in this direction.
I saw quickly that in another moment Juag must de-
liberately hurl himself to death over the precipice or
be pushed over by his foeman.

And as I saw Juag's predicament I saw, too, in the
same instant, a way to relieve him. Leaping quickly
to the side of the fellow I had just felled, I snatched
up my fallen revolver. It was a desperate chance to
take, and I realized it in the instant that I threw the
gun up from my hip and pulled the trigger. There was
no time to aim. Juag was upon the very brink of the
chasm. His relentless foe was pushing him hard, beat-
ing at him furiously with the heavy knife.

And then the revolver spoke--loud and sharp. The
giant threw his hands above his head, whirled about
like a huge top, and lunged forward over the precipice.

And Juag?

He cast a single affrighted glance in my direction--
never before, of course, had he heard the report of a
firearm--and with a howl of dismay he, too, turned
and plunged headforemost from sight. Horror-struck,
I hastened to the brink of the abyss just in time to see
two splashes upon the surface of the little cove below.

For an instant I stood there watching with Dian at
my side. Then, to my utter amazement, I saw Juag rise
to the surface and swim strongly toward the boat.

The fellow had dived that incredible distance and
come up unharmed!

I called to him to await us below, assuring him that
he need have no fear of my weapon, since it would
harm only my enemies. He shook his head and mut-
tered something which I could not hear at so great a
distance; but when I pushed him he promised to wait
for us. At the same instant Dian caught my arm and
pointed toward the village. My shot had brought a
crowd of natives on the run toward us.

The fellow whom I had stunned with my javelin had
regained consciousness and scrambled to his feet. He
was now racing as fast as he could go back toward his
people. It looked mighty dark for Dian and me with
that ghastly descent between us and even the begin-
nings of liberty, and a horde of savage enemies ad-
vancing at a rapid run.

There was but one hope. That was to get Dian
started for the bottom without delay. I took her in my
arms just for an instant--I felt, somehow, that it might
be for the last time. For the life of me I couldn't see
how both of us could escape.

I asked her if she could make the descent alone--
if she were not afraid. She smiled up at me bravely
and shrugged her shoulders. She afraid! So beautiful
is she that I am always having difficulty in remembering
that she is a primitive, half-savage cave girl of the stone
age, and often find myself mentally limiting her ca-
pacities to those of the effete and overcivilized beauties
of the outer crust.

"And you?" she asked as she swung over the edge of
the cliff.

"I shall follow you after I take a shot or two at our
friends," I replied. "I just want to give them a taste of
this new medicine which is going to cure Pellucidar
of all its ills. That will stop them long enough for me
to join you. Now hurry, and tell Juag to be ready to
shove off the moment I reach the boat, or the instant
that it becomes apparent that I cannot reach it.

"You, Dian, must return to Sari if anything happens
to me, that you may devote your life to carrying out
with Perry the hopes and plans for Pellucidar that are
so dear to my heart. Promise me, dear."

She hated to promise to desert me, nor would she;
only shaking her head and making no move to descend.
The tribesmen were nearing us. Juag was shouting up
to us from below. It was evident that he realized from
my actions that I was attempting to persuade Dian to
descend, and that grave danger threatened us from
above.

"Dive!" he cried. "Dive!"

I looked at Dian and then down at the abyss below
us. The cove appeared no larger than a saucer. How
Juag ever had hit it I could not guess.

"Dive!" cried Juag. "It is the only way--there is no
time to climb down."