The Garden Of Eden

: At The Earth's Core

WITH NO HEAVENLY GUIDE, IT IS LITTLE WONDER that I became confused and

lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills. What, in reality,

I did was to pass entirely through them and come out above the valley

upon the farther side. I know that I wandered for a long time, until

tired and hungry I came upon a small cave in the face of the limestone

formation which had taken the place of the granite farther back.


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The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous side of a

lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I knew no extremely

formidable beast could frequent it, nor was it large enough to make a

comfortable habitat for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. Yet

it was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its dark interior.



Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a narrow cleft in the

rock above which let the sunlight filter in in sufficient quantities

partially to dispel the utter darkness which I had expected. The cave

was entirely empty, nor were there any signs of its having been

recently occupied. The opening was comparatively small, so that after

considerable effort I was able to lug up a bowlder from the valley

below which entirely blocked it.



Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses and on

this trip was fortunate enough to knock over an orthopi, the diminutive

horse of Pellucidar, a little animal about the size of a fox terrier,

which abounds in all parts of the inner world. Thus, with food and

bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal of raw meat, to which

I had now become quite accustomed, I dragged the bowlder before the

entrance and curled myself upon a bed of grasses--a naked, primeval,

cave man, as savagely primitive as my prehistoric progenitors.



I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside crawled out

upon the little rocky shelf which was my front porch. Before me spread

a small but beautiful valley, through the center of which a clear and

sparkling river wound its way down to an inland sea, the blue waters of

which were just visible between the two mountain ranges which embraced

this little paradise. The sides of the opposite hills were green with

verdure, for a great forest clothed them to the foot of the red and

yellow and copper green of the towering crags which formed their

summit. The valley itself was carpeted with a luxuriant grass, while

here and there patches of wild flowers made great splashes of vivid

color against the prevailing green.



Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters of palmlike

trees--three or four together as a rule. Beneath these stood antelope,

while others grazed in the open, or wandered gracefully to a nearby

ford to drink. There were several species of this beautiful animal,

the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant eland of Africa,

except that their spiral horns form a complete curve backward over

their ears and then forward again beneath them, ending in sharp and

formidable points some two feet before the face and above the eyes. In

size they remind one of a pure bred Hereford bull, yet they are very

agile and fast. The broad yellow bands that stripe the dark roan of

their coats made me take them for zebra when I first saw them. All in

all they are handsome animals, and added the finishing touch to the

strange and lovely landscape that spread before my new home.



I had determined to make the cave my headquarters, and with it as a

base make a systematic exploration of the surrounding country in search

of the land of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the carcass of

the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep. Then I hid the Great

Secret in a deep niche at the back of my cave, rolled the bowlder

before my front door, and with bow, arrows, sword, and shield scrambled

down into the peaceful valley.



The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them, the

little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and galloping to safest

distances. All the animals stopped feeding as I approached, and after

moving to what they considered a safe distance stood contemplating me

with serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one of the old bull

antelopes of the striped species lowered his head and bellowed

angrily--even taking a few steps in my direction, so that I thought he

meant to charge; but after I had passed, he resumed feeding as though

nothing had disturbed him.



Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs, and

across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous double-horned

progenitor of the modern rhinoceros. At the valley's end the cliffs

upon the left ran out into the sea, so that to pass around them as I

desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search of a ledge along

which I might continue my journey. Some fifty feet from the base I

came upon a projection which formed a natural path along the face of

the cliff, and this I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end.



Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top of the

cliffs--the stratum which formed it evidently having been forced up at

this steep angle when the mountains behind it were born. As I climbed

carefully up the ascent my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by

the sound of strange hissing, and what resembled the flapping of wings.



And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision the most

frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar. It was a giant

dragon such as is pictured in the legends and fairy tales of earth

folk. Its huge body must have measured forty feet in length, while the

batlike wings that supported it in midair had a spread of fully thirty.

Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth, and its claw

equipped with horrible talons.



The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention was issuing

from its throat, and seemed to be directed at something beyond and

below me which I could not see. The ledge upon which I stood

terminated abruptly a few paces farther on, and as I reached the end I

saw the cause of the reptile's agitation.



Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault at this

point, so that beyond the spot where I stood the strata had slipped

down a matter of twenty feet. The result was that the continuation of

my ledge lay twenty feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did

the end upon which I stood.



And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable break in

the ledge, stood the object of the creature's attack--a girl cowering

upon the narrow platform, her face buried in her arms, as though to

shut out the sight of the frightful death which hovered just above her.



The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart in upon its

prey. There was no time to be lost, scarce an instant in which to

weigh the possible chances that I had against the awfully armed

creature; but the sight of that frightened girl below me called out to

all that was best in me, and the instinct for protection of the other

sex, which nearly must have equaled the instinct of self-preservation

in primeval man, drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet.



Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from the end of the

ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny shelf twenty feet below. At the

same instant the dragon darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent

upon the scene must have startled him for he veered to one side, and

then rose above us once more.



The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl that the end

had come, for she thought I was the dragon; but finally when no cruel

fangs closed upon her she raised her eyes in astonishment. As they

fell upon me the expression that came into them would be difficult to

describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been one whit more

complicated than my own--for the wide eyes that looked into mine were

those of Dian the Beautiful.



"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."



"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again; nor could I tell

whether she were glad or angry that I had come.



Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly that I had

no time to unsling my bow. All that I could do was to snatch up a

rock, and hurl it at the thing's hideous face. Again my aim was true,

and with a hiss of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once more and

soared away.



Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready at the next attack,

and as I did so I looked down at the girl, so that I surprised her in a

surreptitious glance which she was stealing at me; but immediately, she

again covered her face with her hands.



"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?"



She looked straight into my eyes.



"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg for a fair

hearing she pointed over my shoulder. "The thipdar comes," she said,

and I turned again to meet the reptile.



So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel bloodhound of

the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl of the outer world. But this

time I met it with a weapon it never had faced before. I had selected

my longest arrow, and with all my strength had bent the bow until the

very tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of my left hand, and then

as the great creature darted toward us I let drive straight for that

tough breast.



Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine, the mighty creature

fell turning and twisting into the sea below, my arrow buried

completely in its carcass. I turned toward the girl. She was looking

past me. It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die.



"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry that I have

found you?"



"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined that there was less

vehemence in it than before--yet it might have been but my imagination.



"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not answer me.



"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened to you since

Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?"



At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely, but

finally she thought better of it.



"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One," she said. "After I

escaped from the Sagoths I made my way alone back to my own land; but

on account of Jubal I did not dare enter the villages or let any of my

friends know that I had returned for fear that Jubal might find out.

By watching for a long time I found that my brother had not yet

returned, and so I continued to live in a cave beside a valley which my

race seldom frequents, awaiting the time that he should come back and

free me from Jubal.



"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping toward my

father's cave to see if my brother had yet returned and he gave the

alarm and Jubal set out after me. He has been pursuing me across many

lands. He cannot be far behind me now. When he comes he will kill you

and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible man. I have gone as

far as I can go, and there is no escape," and she looked hopelessly up

at the continuation of the ledge twenty feet above us.



"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried, with great vehemence.

"The sea is there"--she pointed over the edge of the cliff--"and the

sea shall have me rather than Jubal."



"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal, nor any other

have you, for you are mine," and I seized her hand, nor did I lift it

above her head and let it fall in token of release.



She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight into my eyes with

level gaze.



"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it you would have

done this when the others were present to witness it--then I should

truly have been your mate; now there is no one to see you do it, for

you know that without witnesses your act does not bind you to me," and

she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away.



I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she simply couldn't

forget the humiliation that I had put upon her on that other occasion.



"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to prove it,"

she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you. I am in your power,

and the treatment you accord me will be the best proof of your

intentions toward me. I am not your mate, and again I tell you that I

hate you, and that I should be glad if I never saw you again."



Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that. In fact I

found candor and directness to be quite a marked characteristic of the

cave men of Pellucidar. Finally I suggested that we make some attempt

to gain my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal, for I am

free to admit that I had no considerable desire to meet the formidable

and ferocious creature, of whose mighty prowess Dian had told me when I

first met her. He it was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and

killed a cave bear in a hand-to-hand struggle. It was Jubal who could

cast his spear entirely through the armored carcass of the sadok at

fifty paces. It was he who had crushed the skull of a charging dyryth

with a single blow of his war club. No, I was not pining to meet the

Ugly One-and it was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for

him; but the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly, as is often

the way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face to face.



This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along the ledge the way

she had come, searching for a path that would lead us to the top of the

cliff, for I knew that we could then cross over to the edge of my own

little valley, where I felt certain we should find a means of ingress

from the cliff top. As we proceeded along the ledge I gave Dian minute

directions for finding my cave against the chance of something

happening to me. I knew that she would be quite safely hidden away

from pursuit once she gained the shelter of my lair, and the valley

would afford her ample means of sustenance.



Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me. My heart was sad

and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel badly by suggesting that

something terrible might happen to me--that I might, in fact, be

killed. But it didn't work worth a cent, at least as far as I could

perceive. Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders of hers,

and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid of trouble so

easily as that.



For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched. And to think that

I had twice protected her from attack--the last time risking my life to

save hers. It was incredible that even a daughter of the Stone Age

could be so ungrateful--so heartless; but maybe her heart partook of

the qualities of her epoch.



Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened and

extended by the action of the water draining through it from the

plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb to the summit, but

finally we stood upon the level mesa which stretched back for several

miles to the mountain range. Behind us lay the broad inland sea,

curving upward in the horizonless distance to merge into the blue of

the sky, so that for all the world it looked as though the sea lapped

back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond the distant

mountains at our backs--the weird and uncanny aspect of the seascapes

of Pellucidar balk description.



At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country was open

and clear to the plateau's farther verge. It was in this direction

that our way led, and we had turned to resume our journey when Dian

touched my arm. I turned to her, thinking that she was about to make

peace overtures; but I was mistaken.



"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest.



I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood, came a perfect whale

of a man. He must have been seven feet tall, and proportioned

accordingly. He still was too far off to distinguish his features.



"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get a good start.

Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten entirely away," and then,

without a backward glance, I advanced to meet the Ugly One. I had

hoped that Dian would have a kind word to say to me before she went,

for she must have known that I was going to my death for her sake; but

she never even so much as bid me good-bye, and it was with a heavy

heart that I strode through the flower-bespangled grass to my doom.



When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish his features I

understood how it was that he had earned the sobriquet of Ugly One.

Apparently some fearful beast had ripped away one entire side of his

face. The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, so that his jaws

and all his teeth were exposed and grinning through the horrible scar.



Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others of his

handsome race, and it may be that the terrible result of this encounter

had tended to sour an already strong and brutal character. However

this may be it is quite certain that he was not a pretty sight, and now

that his features, or what remained of them, were distorted in rage at

the sight of Dian with another male, he was indeed most terrible to

see--and much more terrible to meet.



He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he raised his mighty

spear, while I halted and fitting an arrow to my bow took as steady aim

as I could. I was somewhat longer than usual, for I must confess that

the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my nerves to such an

extent that my knees were anything but steady. What chance had I

against this mighty warrior for whom even the fiercest cave bear had no

terrors! Could I hope to best one who slaughtered the sadok and dyryth

singlehanded! I shuddered; but, in fairness to myself, my fear was

more for Dian than for my own fate.



And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped spear, and I

raised my shield to break the force of its terrific velocity. The

impact hurled me to my knees, but the shield had deflected the missile

and I was unscathed. Jubal was rushing upon me now with the only

remaining weapon that he carried--a murderous-looking knife. He was

too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive at him as he came,

without taking aim. My arrow pierced the fleshy part of his thigh,

inflicting a painful but not disabling wound. And then he was upon me.



My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath his raised arm,

and when he wheeled to come at me again he found a sword's point in his

face. And a moment later he felt an inch or two of it in the muscles

of his knife arm, so that thereafter he went more warily.



It was a duel of strategy now--the great, hairy man maneuvering to get

inside my guard where he could bring those giant thews to play, while

my wits were directed to the task of keeping him at arm's length.

Thrice he rushed me, and thrice I caught his knife blow upon my shield.

Each time my sword found his body--once penetrating to his lung. He

was covered with blood by this time, and the internal hemorrhage

induced paroxysms of coughing that brought the red stream through the

hideous mouth and nose, covering his face and breast with bloody froth.

He was a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from dead.



As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for, to be perfectly

candid, I had not expected to survive the first rush of that monstrous

engine of ungoverned rage and hatred. And I think that Jubal, from

utter contempt of me, began to change to a feeling of respect, and then

in his primitive mind there evidently loomed the thought that perhaps

at last he had met his master, and was facing his end.



At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can account for his

next act, which was in the nature of a last resort--a sort of forlorn

hope, which could only have been born of the belief that if he did not

kill me quickly I should kill him. It happened on the occasion of his

fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me with his knife, he

dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade in both his hands

wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as from a babe.



Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just an instant

glaring into my face with such a horrid leer of malignant triumph as to

almost unnerve me--then he sprang for me with his bare hands. But it

was Jubal's day to learn new methods of warfare. For the first time he

had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel had he beheld a

sword, and now he learned what a man who knows may do with his bare

fists.



As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again beneath his

outstretched arm, and as I came up planted as clean a blow upon his jaw

as ever you have seen. Down went that great mountain of flesh

sprawling upon the ground. He was so surprised and dazed that he lay

there for several seconds before he made any attempt to rise, and I

stood over him with another dose ready when he should gain his knees.



Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification; but

he didn't stay up--I let him have a left fair on the point of the jaw

that sent him tumbling over on his back. By this time I think Jubal

had gone mad with hate, for no sane man would have come back for more

as many times as he did. Time after time I bowled him over as fast as

he could stagger up, until toward the last he lay longer on the ground

between blows, and each time came up weaker than before.



He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs, and

presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him reeling heavily to

the ground, where he lay very still, and somehow I knew at once that

Jubal the Ugly One would never get up again. But even as I looked upon

that massive body lying there so grim and terrible in death, I could

not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this slayer of fearful

beasts--this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age.



Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on the dead body of

my foeman, and as I thought of the battle I had just fought and won a

great idea was born in my brain--the outcome of this and the suggestion

that Perry had made within the city of Phutra. If skill and science

could render a comparative pygmy the master of this mighty brute, what

could not the brute's fellows accomplish with the same skill and

science. Why all Pellucidar would be at their feet--and I would be

their king and Dian their queen.



Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite within the

possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even were I king. She was

quite the most superior person I ever had met--with the most convincing

way of letting you know that she was superior. Well, I could go to the

cave, and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and then she might feel

more kindly toward me, since I had freed her of her tormentor. I hoped

that she had found the cave easily--it would be terrible had I lost her

again, and I turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her,

when to my astonishment I found her standing not ten paces behind me.



"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought that you had gone

to the cave, as I told you to do."



Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took all the majesty

out of me, and left me feeling more like the palace janitor--if palaces

have janitors.



"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot. "I do as

I please. I am the daughter of a king, and furthermore, I hate you."



I was dumbfounded--this was my thanks for saving her from Jubal! I

turned and looked at the corpse. "May be that I saved you from a worse

fate, old man," I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, for she never

seemed to notice it at all.



"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry."



She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking. I was too

angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse with the lower orders.

I was mad all the way through, as I had certainly felt that at least a

word of thanks should have rewarded me, for I knew that even by her own

standards, I must have done a very wonderful thing to have killed the

redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand encounter.



We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went down into the

valley and bowled over a small antelope, which I dragged up the steep

ascent to the ledge before the door. Here we ate in silence.

Occasionally I glanced at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing

at raw flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal would cause

a revulsion of my sentiments toward her; but to my surprise I found

that she ate quite as daintily as the most civilized woman of my

acquaintance, and finally I found myself gazing in foolish rapture at

the beauties of her strong, white teeth. Such is love.



After our repast we went down to the river together and bathed our

hands and faces, and then after drinking our fill went back to the

cave. Without a word I crawled into the farthest corner and, curling

up, was soon asleep.



When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out across the

valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let me pass, but she

had no word for me. I wanted to hate her, but I couldn't. Every time

I looked at her something came up in my throat, so that I nearly

choked. I had never been in love before, but I did not need any aid in

diagnosing my case--I certainly had it and had it bad. God, how I

loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, prehistoric girl!



After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended returning to her

tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she shook her head sadly, and said

that she did not dare, for there was still Jubal's brother to be

considered--his oldest brother.



"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you, or has

the option on you become a family heirloom, to be passed on down from

generation to generation?"



She was not quite sure as to what I meant.



"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge for the

death of Jubal--there are seven of them--seven terrible men. Someone

may have to kill them all, if I am to return to my people."



It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much too large for

me--about seven sizes, in fact.



"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well to know the

worst at once.



"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count--they all have mates.

Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get none for

himself. He was so ugly that women ran away from him--some have even

thrown themselves from the cliffs of Amoz into the Darel Az rather than

mate with the Ugly One."



"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked.



"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian, with a look of

pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt seemed to be laid on a

little thicker than the circumstance warranted--as though to make quite

certain that I shouldn't overlook it. "You see," she continued, "a

younger brother may not take a mate until all his older brothers have

done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative, which Jubal

would not do, knowing that as long as he kept them single they would be

all the keener in aiding him to secure a mate."



Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I began to entertain

hopes that she might be warming up toward me a bit, although upon what

slender thread I hung my hopes I soon discovered.



"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is to become of you

since you cannot be happy here with me, hating me as you do?"



"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly, "until you see

fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace, then I shall get along very

well alone."



I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed incredible that even a

prehistoric woman could be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. Then

I arose.



"I shall leave you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite enough of

your ingratitude and your insults," and then I turned and strode

majestically down toward the valley. I had taken a hundred steps in

absolute silence, and then Dian spoke.



"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke--in rage, I thought.



I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far when I began to

realize that I couldn't leave her alone there without protection, to

hunt her own food amid the dangers of that savage world. She might

hate me, and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me, as

she already had, until I should have hated her; but the pitiful fact

remained that I loved her, and I couldn't leave her there alone.



The more I thought about it the madder I got, so that by the time I

reached the valley I was furious, and the result of it was that I

turned right around and went up that cliff again as fast as I had come

down. I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within the cave, but

I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her face on the pile

of grasses I had gathered for her bed. When she heard me enter she

sprang to her feet like a tigress.



"I hate you!" she cried.



Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into the

semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features, and I was rather

glad, for I disliked to think of the hate that I should have read there.



I never said a word to her at first. I just strode across the cave and

grasped her by the wrists, and when she struggled, I put my arm around

her so as to pinion her hands to her sides. She fought like a tigress,

but I took my free hand and pushed her head back--I imagine that I had

suddenly turned brute, that I had gone back a thousand million years,

and was again a veritable cave man taking my mate by force--and then I

kissed that beautiful mouth again and again.



"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you. Can't you

understand that I love you? That I love you better than all else in

this world or my own? That I am going to have you? That love like

mine cannot be denied?"



I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now, and as my eyes became

accustomed to the light I saw that she was smiling--a very contented,

happy smile. I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, very gently,

she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened my grip upon them

so that she could do so. Slowly they came up and stole about my neck,

and then she drew my lips down to hers once more and held them there

for a long time. At last she spoke.



"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been waiting so long."



"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!"



"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I loved you

before I knew that you loved me?" she asked.



"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said. "Love

speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made your mouth say what

you wished it to say, but just now when you came and took me in your

arms your heart spoke to mine in the language that a woman's heart

understands. What a silly man you are, David?"



"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked.



"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the first moment that I

saw you, although I did not know it until that time you struck down

Hooja the Sly One, and then spurned me."



"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know your ways--I

doubt if I do now. It seems incredible that you could have reviled me

so, and yet have cared for me all the time."



"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away from you

that it was not hate which chained me to you. While you were battling

with Jubal, I could have run to the edge of the forest, and when I

learned the outcome of the combat it would have been a simple thing to

have eluded you and returned to my own people."



"But Jubal's brothers--and cousins--" I reminded her, "how about them?"



She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder.



"I had to tell you SOMETHING, David," she whispered. "I must needs

have SOME excuse for remaining near you."



"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused me all this

anguish for nothing!"



"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I thought that

you did not love me, and I was helpless. I couldn't come to you and

demand that my love be returned, as you have just come to me. Just now

when you went away hope went with you. I was wretched, terrified,

miserable, and my heart was breaking. I wept, and I have not done that

before since my mother died," and now I saw that there was the moisture

of tears about her eyes. It was near to making me cry myself when I

thought of all that poor child had been through. Motherless and

unprotected; hunted across a savage, primeval world by that hideous

brute of a man; exposed to the attacks of the countless fearsome

denizens of its mountains, its plains, and its jungles--it was a

miracle that she had survived it all.



To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears must have

endured that the human race of the outer crust might survive. It made

me very proud to think that I had won the love of such a woman. Of

course she couldn't read or write; there was nothing cultured or

refined about her as you judge culture and refinement; but she was the

essence of all that is best in woman, for she was good, and brave, and

noble, and virtuous. And she was all these things in spite of the fact

that their observance entailed suffering and danger and possible death.



How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal in the first

place! She would have been his lawful mate. She would have been queen

in her own land--and it meant just as much to the cave woman to be a

queen in the Stone Age as it does to the woman of today to be a queen

now; it's all comparative glory any way you look at it, and if there

were only half-naked savages on the outer crust today, you'd find that

it would be considerable glory to be the wife a Dahomey chief.



I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that of a splendid young

woman I had known in New York--I mean splendid to look at and to talk

to. She had been head over heels in love with a chum of mine--a clean,

manly chap--but she had married a broken-down, disreputable old

debauchee because he was a count in some dinky little European

principality that was not even accorded a distinctive color by Rand

McNally.



Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian.



After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious to see

Perry, and to know that all was right with him. I had told Dian about

our plan of emancipating the human race of Pellucidar, and she was

fairly wild over it. She said that if Dacor, her brother, would only

return he could easily be king of Amoz, and that then he and Ghak could

form an alliance. That would give us a flying start, for the Sarians

and the Amozites were both very powerful tribes. Once they had been

armed with swords, and bows and arrows, and trained in their use we

were confident that they could overcome any tribe that seemed

disinclined to join the great army of federated states with which we

were planning to march upon the Mahars.



I explained the various destructive engines of war which Perry and I

could construct after a little experimentation--gunpowder, rifles,

cannon, and the like, and Dian would clap her hands, and throw her arms

about my neck, and tell me what a wonderful thing I was. She was

beginning to think that I was omnipotent although I really hadn't done

anything but talk--but that is the way with women when they love.

Perry used to say that if a fellow was one-tenth as remarkable as his

wife or mother thought him, he would have the world by the tail with a

down-hill drag.



The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest of poisonous

vipers before we reached the valley. A little fellow stung me on the

ankle, and Dian made me come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't

exercise, or it might prove fatal--if it had been a full-grown snake

that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved a single pace from the

nest--I'd have died in my tracks, so virulent is the poison. As it was

I must have been laid up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of

herbs and leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out the poison.



The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave me an idea which

added a thousand-fold to the value of my arrows as missiles of offense

and defense. As soon as I was able to be about again, I sought out

some adult vipers of the species which had stung me, and having killed

them, I extracted their virus, smearing it upon the tips of several

arrows. Later I shot a hyaenodon with one of these, and though my

arrow inflicted but a superficial flesh wound the beast crumpled in

death almost immediately after he was hit.



We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians, and it was with

feelings of sincere regret that we bade good-bye to our beautiful

Garden of Eden, in the comparative peace and harmony of which we had

lived the happiest moments of our lives. How long we had been there I

did not know, for as I have told you, time had ceased to exist for me

beneath that eternal noonday sun--it may have been an hour, or a month

of earthly time; I do not know.



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