The Sly One

: At The Earth's Core

THE SAGOTHS WERE GAINING ON US RAPIDLY, FOR once they had sighted us

they had greatly increased their speed. On and on we stumbled up the

narrow canyon that Ghak had chosen to approach the heights of Sari. On

either side rose precipitous cliffs of gorgeous, parti-colored rock,

while beneath our feet a thick mountain grass formed a soft and

noiseless carpet. Since we had entered the canyon we had had no

glimpse of ou
pursuers, and I was commencing to hope that they had

lost our trail and that we would reach the now rapidly nearing cliffs

in time to scale them before we should be overtaken.



Ahead we neither saw nor heard any sign which might betoken the success

of Hooja's mission. By now he should have reached the outposts of the

Sarians, and we should at least hear the savage cries of the tribesmen

as they swarmed to arms in answer to their king's appeal for succor.

In another moment the frowning cliffs ahead should be black with

primeval warriors. But nothing of the kind happened--as a matter of

fact the Sly One had betrayed us. At the moment that we expected to

see Sarian spearmen charging to our relief at Hooja's back, the craven

traitor was sneaking around the outskirts of the nearest Sarian

village, that he might come up from the other side when it was too late

to save us, claiming that he had become lost among the mountains.



Hooja still harbored ill will against me because of the blow I had

struck in Dian's protection, and his malevolent spirit was equal to

sacrificing us all that he might be revenged upon me.



As we drew nearer the barrier cliffs and no sign of rescuing Sarians

appeared Ghak became both angry and alarmed, and presently as the sound

of rapidly approaching pursuit fell upon our ears, he called to me over

his shoulder that we were lost.



A backward glance gave me a glimpse of the first of the Sagoths at the

far end of a considerable stretch of canyon through which we had just

passed, and then a sudden turning shut the ugly creature from my view;

but the loud howl of triumphant rage which rose behind us was evidence

that the gorilla-man had sighted us.



Again the canyon veered sharply to the left, but to the right another

branch ran on at a lesser deviation from the general direction, so that

appeared more like the main canyon than the lefthand branch. The

Sagoths were now not over two hundred and fifty yards behind us, and I

saw that it was hopeless for us to expect to escape other than by a

ruse. There was a bare chance of saving Ghak and Perry, and as I

reached the branching of the canyon I took the chance.



Pausing there I waited until the foremost Sagoth hove into sight. Ghak

and Perry had disappeared around a bend in the left-hand canyon, and as

the Sagoth's savage yell announced that he had seen me I turned and

fled up the right-hand branch. My ruse was successful, and the entire

party of man-hunters raced headlong after me up one canyon while Ghak

bore Perry to safety up the other.



Running has never been my particular athletic forte, and now when my

very life depended upon fleetness of foot I cannot say that I ran any

better than on the occasions when my pitiful base running had called

down upon my head the rooter's raucous and reproachful cries of "Ice

Wagon," and "Call a cab."



The Sagoths were gaining on me rapidly. There was one in particular,

fleeter than his fellows, who was perilously close. The canyon had

become a rocky slit, rising roughly at a steep angle toward what seemed

a pass between two abutting peaks. What lay beyond I could not even

guess--possibly a sheer drop of hundreds of feet into the corresponding

valley upon the other side. Could it be that I had plunged into a

cul-de-sac?



Realizing that I could not hope to outdistance the Sagoths to the top

of the canyon I had determined to risk all in an attempt to check them

temporarily, and to this end had unslung my rudely made bow and plucked

an arrow from the skin quiver which hung behind my shoulder. As I

fitted the shaft with my right hand I stopped and wheeled toward the

gorilla-man.



In the world of my birth I never had drawn a shaft, but since our

escape from Phutra I had kept the party supplied with small game by

means of my arrows, and so, through necessity, had developed a fair

degree of accuracy. During our flight from Phutra I had restrung my

bow with a piece of heavy gut taken from a huge tiger which Ghak and I

had worried and finally dispatched with arrows, spear, and sword. The

hard wood of the bow was extremely tough and this, with the strength

and elasticity of my new string, gave me unwonted confidence in my

weapon.



Never had I greater need of steady nerves than then--never were my

nerves and muscles under better control. I sighted as carefully and

deliberately as though at a straw target. The Sagoth had never before

seen a bow and arrow, but of a sudden it must have swept over his dull

intellect that the thing I held toward him was some sort of engine of

destruction, for he too came to a halt, simultaneously swinging his

hatchet for a throw. It is one of the many methods in which they

employ this weapon, and the accuracy of aim which they achieve, even

under the most unfavorable circumstances, is little short of miraculous.



My shaft was drawn back its full length--my eye had centered its sharp

point upon the left breast of my adversary; and then he launched his

hatchet and I released my arrow. At the instant that our missiles flew

I leaped to one side, but the Sagoth sprang forward to follow up his

attack with a spear thrust. I felt the swish of the hatchet at it

grazed my head, and at the same instant my shaft pierced the Sagoth's

savage heart, and with a single groan he lunged almost at my

feet--stone dead. Close behind him were two more--fifty yards

perhaps--but the distance gave me time to snatch up the dead

guardsman's shield, for the close call his hatchet had just given me

had borne in upon me the urgent need I had for one. Those which I had

purloined at Phutra we had not been able to bring along because their

size precluded our concealing them within the skins of the Mahars which

had brought us safely from the city.



With the shield slipped well up on my left arm I let fly with another

arrow, which brought down a second Sagoth, and then as his fellow's

hatchet sped toward me I caught it upon the shield, and fitted another

shaft for him; but he did not wait to receive it. Instead, he turned

and retreated toward the main body of gorilla-men. Evidently he had

seen enough of me for the moment.



Once more I took up my flight, nor were the Sagoths apparently

overanxious to press their pursuit so closely as before. Unmolested I

reached the top of the canyon where I found a sheer drop of two or

three hundred feet to the bottom of a rocky chasm; but on the left a

narrow ledge rounded the shoulder of the overhanging cliff. Along this

I advanced, and at a sudden turning, a few yards beyond the canyon's

end, the path widened, and at my left I saw the opening to a large

cave. Before, the ledge continued until it passed from sight about

another projecting buttress of the mountain.



Here, I felt, I could defy an army, for but a single foeman could

advance upon me at a time, nor could he know that I was awaiting him

until he came full upon me around the corner of the turn. About me lay

scattered stones crumbled from the cliff above. They were of various

sizes and shapes, but enough were of handy dimensions for use as

ammunition in lieu of my precious arrows. Gathering a number of stones

into a little pile beside the mouth of the cave I waited the advance of

the Sagoths.



As I stood there, tense and silent, listening for the first faint sound

that should announce the approach of my enemies, a slight noise from

within the cave's black depths attracted my attention. It might have

been produced by the moving of the great body of some huge beast rising

from the rock floor of its lair. At almost the same instant I thought

that I caught the scraping of hide sandals upon the ledge beyond the

turn. For the next few seconds my attention was considerably divided.



And then from the inky blackness at my right I saw two flaming eyes

glaring into mine. They were on a level that was over two feet above

my head. It is true that the beast who owned them might be standing

upon a ledge within the cave, or that it might be rearing up upon its

hind legs; but I had seen enough of the monsters of Pellucidar to know

that I might be facing some new and frightful Titan whose dimensions

and ferocity eclipsed those of any I had seen before.



Whatever it was, it was coming slowly toward the entrance of the cave,

and now, deep and forbidding, it uttered a low and ominous growl. I

waited no longer to dispute possession of the ledge with the thing

which owned that voice. The noise had not been loud--I doubt if the

Sagoths heard it at all--but the suggestion of latent possibilities

behind it was such that I knew it would only emanate from a gigantic

and ferocious beast.



As I backed along the ledge I soon was past the mouth of the cave,

where I no longer could see those fearful flaming eyes, but an instant

later I caught sight of the fiendish face of a Sagoth as it warily

advanced beyond the cliff's turn on the far side of the cave's mouth.

As the fellow saw me he leaped along the ledge in pursuit, and after

him came as many of his companions as could crowd upon each other's

heels. At the same time the beast emerged from the cave, so that he

and the Sagoths came face to face upon that narrow ledge.



The thing was an enormous cave bear, rearing its colossal bulk fully

eight feet at the shoulder, while from the tip of its nose to the end

of its stubby tail it was fully twelve feet in length. As it sighted

the Sagoths it emitted a most frightful roar, and with open mouth

charged full upon them. With a cry of terror the foremost gorilla-man

turned to escape, but behind him he ran full upon his on-rushing

companions.



The horror of the following seconds is indescribable. The Sagoth

nearest the cave bear, finding his escape blocked, turned and leaped

deliberately to an awful death upon the jagged rocks three hundred feet

below. Then those giant jaws reached out and gathered in the

next--there was a sickening sound of crushing bones, and the mangled

corpse was dropped over the cliff's edge. Nor did the mighty beast

even pause in his steady advance along the ledge.



Shrieking Sagoths were now leaping madly over the precipice to escape



him, and the last I saw he rounded the turn still pursuing the

demoralized remnant of the man hunters. For a long time I could hear

the horrid roaring of the brute intermingled with the screams and

shrieks of his victims, until finally the awful sounds dwindled and

disappeared in the distance.



Later I learned from Ghak, who had finally come to his tribesmen and

returned with a party to rescue me, that the ryth, as it is called,

pursued the Sagoths until it had exterminated the entire band. Ghak

was, of course, positive that I had fallen prey to the terrible

creature, which, within Pellucidar, is truly the king of beasts.



Not caring to venture back into the canyon, where I might fall prey

either to the cave bear or the Sagoths I continued on along the ledge,

believing that by following around the mountain I could reach the land

of Sari from another direction. But I evidently became confused by the

twisting and turning of the canyons and gullies, for I did not come to

the land of Sari then, nor for a long time thereafter.



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