A Change Of Masters
:
At The Earth's Core
WE MUST HAVE TRAVELED SEVERAL MILES THROUGH the dark and dismal wood
when we came suddenly upon a dense village built high among the
branches of the trees. As we approached it my escort broke into wild
shouting which was immediately answered from within, and a moment later
a swarm of creatures of the same strange race as those who had captured
me poured out to meet us. Again I was the center of a wildly
chattering ho
de. I was pulled this way and that. Pinched, pounded,
and thumped until I was black and blue, yet I do not think that their
treatment was dictated by either cruelty or malice--I was a curiosity,
a freak, a new plaything, and their childish minds required the added
evidence of all their senses to back up the testimony of their eyes.
Presently they dragged me within the village, which consisted of
several hundred rude shelters of boughs and leaves supported upon the
branches of the trees.
Between the huts, which sometimes formed crooked streets, were dead
branches and the trunks of small trees which connected the huts upon
one tree to those within adjoining trees; the whole network of huts and
pathways forming an almost solid flooring a good fifty feet above the
ground.
I wondered why these agile creatures required connecting bridges
between the trees, but later when I saw the motley aggregation of
half-savage beasts which they kept within their village I realized the
necessity for the pathways. There were a number of the same vicious
wolf-dogs which we had left worrying the dyryth, and many goatlike
animals whose distended udders explained the reasons for their presence.
My guard halted before one of the huts into which I was pushed; then
two of the creatures squatted down before the entrance--to prevent my
escape, doubtless. Though where I should have escaped to I certainly
had not the remotest conception. I had no more than entered the dark
shadows of the interior than there fell upon my ears the tones of a
familiar voice, in prayer.
"Perry!" I cried. "Dear old Perry! Thank the Lord you are safe."
"David! Can it be possible that you escaped?" And the old man stumbled
toward me and threw his arms about me.
He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then he had been seized by a
number of the ape-creatures and borne through the tree tops to their
village. His captors had been as inquisitive as to his strange
clothing as had mine, with the same result. As we looked at each other
we could not help but laugh.
"With a tail, David," remarked Perry, "you would make a very handsome
ape."
"Maybe we can borrow a couple," I rejoined. "They seem to be quite the
thing this season. I wonder what the creatures intend doing with us,
Perry. They don't seem really savage. What do you suppose they can
be? You were about to tell me where we are when that great hairy
frigate bore down upon us--have you really any idea at all?"
"Yes, David," he replied, "I know precisely where we are. We have made
a magnificent discovery, my boy! We have proved that the earth is
hollow. We have passed entirely through its crust to the inner world."
"Perry, you are mad!"
"Not at all, David. For two hundred and fifty miles our prospector
bore us through the crust beneath our outer world. At that point it
reached the center of gravity of the five-hundred-mile-thick crust. Up
to that point we had been descending--direction is, of course, merely
relative. Then at the moment that our seats revolved--the thing that
made you believe that we had turned about and were speeding upward--we
passed the center of gravity and, though we did not alter the direction
of our progress, yet we were in reality moving upward--toward the
surface of the inner world. Does not the strange fauna and flora which
we have seen convince you that you are not in the world of your birth?
And the horizon--could it present the strange aspects which we both
noted unless we were indeed standing upon the inside surface of a
sphere?"
"But the sun, Perry!" I urged. "How in the world can the sun shine
through five hundred miles of solid crust?"
"It is not the sun of the outer world that we see here. It is another
sun--an entirely different sun--that casts its eternal noonday
effulgence upon the face of the inner world. Look at it now, David--if
you can see it from the doorway of this hut--and you will see that it
is still in the exact center of the heavens. We have been here for
many hours--yet it is still noon.
"And withal it is very simple, David. The earth was once a nebulous
mass. It cooled, and as it cooled it shrank. At length a thin crust
of solid matter formed upon its outer surface--a sort of shell; but
within it was partially molten matter and highly expanded gases. As it
continued to cool, what happened? Centrifugal force hurled the
particles of the nebulous center toward the crust as rapidly as they
approached a solid state. You have seen the same principle practically
applied in the modern cream separator. Presently there was only a
small super-heated core of gaseous matter remaining within a huge
vacant interior left by the contraction of the cooling gases. The
equal attraction of the solid crust from all directions maintained this
luminous core in the exact center of the hollow globe. What remains of
it is the sun you saw today--a relatively tiny thing at the exact
center of the earth. Equally to every part of this inner world it
diffuses its perpetual noonday light and torrid heat.
"This inner world must have cooled sufficiently to support animal life
long ages after life appeared upon the outer crust, but that the same
agencies were at work here is evident from the similar forms of both
animal and vegetable creation which we have already seen. Take the
great beast which attacked us, for example. Unquestionably a
counterpart of the Megatherium of the post-Pliocene period of the outer
crust, whose fossilized skeleton has been found in South America."
"But the grotesque inhabitants of this forest?" I urged. "Surely they
have no counterpart in the earth's history."
"Who can tell?" he rejoined. "They may constitute the link between ape
and man, all traces of which have been swallowed by the countless
convulsions which have racked the outer crust, or they may be merely
the result of evolution along slightly different lines--either is quite
possible."
Further speculation was interrupted by the appearance of several of our
captors before the entrance of the hut. Two of them entered and
dragged us forth. The perilous pathways and the surrounding trees were
filled with the black ape-men, their females, and their young. There
was not an ornament, a weapon, or a garment among the lot.
"Quite low in the scale of creation," commented Perry.
"Quite high enough to play the deuce with us, though," I replied. "Now
what do you suppose they intend doing with us?"
We were not long in learning. As on the occasion of our trip to the
village we were seized by a couple of the powerful creatures and
whirled away through the tree tops, while about us and in our wake
raced a chattering, jabbering, grinning horde of sleek, black
ape-things.
Twice my bearers missed their footing, and my heart ceased beating as
we plunged toward instant death among the tangled deadwood beneath.
But on both occasions those lithe, powerful tails reached out and found
sustaining branches, nor did either of the creatures loosen their grasp
upon me. In fact, it seemed that the incidents were of no greater
moment to them than would be the stubbing of one's toe at a street
crossing in the outer world--they but laughed uproariously and sped on
with me.
For some time they continued through the forest--how long I could not
guess for I was learning, what was later borne very forcefully to my
mind, that time ceases to be a factor the moment means for measuring it
cease to exist. Our watches were gone, and we were living beneath a
stationary sun. Already I was puzzled to compute the period of time
which had elapsed since we broke through the crust of the inner world.
It might be hours, or it might be days--who in the world could tell
where it was always noon! By the sun, no time had elapsed--but my
judgment told me that we must have been several hours in this strange
world.
Presently the forest terminated, and we came out upon a level plain. A
short distance before us rose a few low, rocky hills. Toward these our
captors urged us, and after a short time led us through a narrow pass
into a tiny, circular valley. Here they got down to work, and we were
soon convinced that if we were not to die to make a Roman holiday, we
were to die for some other purpose. The attitude of our captors
altered immediately as they entered the natural arena within the rocky
hills. Their laughter ceased. Grim ferocity marked their bestial
faces--bared fangs menaced us.
We were placed in the center of the amphitheater--the thousand
creatures forming a great ring about us. Then a wolf-dog was
brought--hyaenadon Perry called it--and turned loose with us inside the
circle. The thing's body was as large as that of a full-grown mastiff,
its legs were short and powerful, and its jaws broad and strong. Dark,
shaggy hair covered its back and sides, while its breast and belly were
quite white. As it slunk toward us it presented a most formidable
aspect with its upcurled lips baring its mighty fangs.
Perry was on his knees, praying. I stooped and picked up a small
stone. At my movement the beast veered off a bit and commenced
circling us. Evidently it had been a target for stones before. The
ape-things were dancing up and down urging the brute on with savage
cries, until at last, seeing that I did not throw, he charged us.
At Andover, and later at Yale, I had pitched on winning ball teams. My
speed and control must both have been above the ordinary, for I made
such a record during my senior year at college that overtures were made
to me in behalf of one of the great major-league teams; but in the
tightest pitch that ever had confronted me in the past I had never been
in such need for control as now.
As I wound up for the delivery, I held my nerves and muscles under
absolute command, though the grinning jaws were hurtling toward me at
terrific speed. And then I let go, with every ounce of my weight and
muscle and science in back of that throw. The stone caught the
hyaenodon full upon the end of the nose, and sent him bowling over upon
his back.
At the same instant a chorus of shrieks and howls arose from the circle
of spectators, so that for a moment I thought that the upsetting of
their champion was the cause; but in this I soon saw that I was
mistaken. As I looked, the ape-things broke in all directions toward
the surrounding hills, and then I distinguished the real cause of their
perturbation. Behind them, streaming through the pass which leads into
the valley, came a swarm of hairy men--gorilla-like creatures armed
with spears and hatchets, and bearing long, oval shields. Like demons
they set upon the ape-things, and before them the hyaenodon, which had
now regained its senses and its feet, fled howling with fright. Past
us swept the pursued and the pursuers, nor did the hairy ones accord us
more than a passing glance until the arena had been emptied of its
former occupants. Then they returned to us, and one who seemed to have
authority among them directed that we be brought with them.
When we had passed out of the amphitheater onto the great plain we saw
a caravan of men and women--human beings like ourselves--and for the
first time hope and relief filled my heart, until I could have cried
out in the exuberance of my happiness. It is true that they were a
half-naked, wild-appearing aggregation; but they at least were
fashioned along the same lines as ourselves--there was nothing
grotesque or horrible about them as about the other creatures in this
strange, weird world.
But as we came closer, our hearts sank once more, for we discovered
that the poor wretches were chained neck to neck in a long line, and
that the gorilla-men were their guards. With little ceremony Perry and
I were chained at the end of the line, and without further ado the
interrupted march was resumed.
Up to this time the excitement had kept us both up; but now the
tiresome monotony of the long march across the sun-baked plain brought
on all the agonies consequent to a long-denied sleep. On and on we
stumbled beneath that hateful noonday sun. If we fell we were prodded
with a sharp point. Our companions in chains did not stumble. They
strode along proudly erect. Occasionally they would exchange words
with one another in a monosyllabic language. They were a
noble-appearing race with well-formed heads and perfect physiques. The
men were heavily bearded, tall and muscular; the women, smaller and
more gracefully molded, with great masses of raven hair caught into
loose knots upon their heads. The features of both sexes were well
proportioned--there was not a face among them that would have been
called even plain if judged by earthly standards. They wore no
ornaments; but this I later learned was due to the fact that their
captors had stripped them of everything of value. As garmenture the
women possessed a single robe of some light-colored, spotted hide,
rather similar in appearance to a leopard's skin. This they wore
either supported entirely about the waist by a leathern thong, so that
it hung partially below the knee on one side, or possibly looped
gracefully across one shoulder. Their feet were shod with skin
sandals. The men wore loin cloths of the hide of some shaggy beast,
long ends of which depended before and behind nearly to the ground. In
some instances these ends were finished with the strong talons of the
beast from which the hides had been taken.
Our guards, whom I already have described as gorilla-like men, were
rather lighter in build than a gorilla, but even so they were indeed
mighty creatures. Their arms and legs were proportioned more in
conformity with human standards, but their entire bodies were covered
with shaggy, brown hair, and their faces were quite as brutal as those
of the few stuffed specimens of the gorilla which I had seen in the
museums at home.
Their only redeeming feature lay in the development of the head above
and back of the ears. In this respect they were not one whit less
human than we. They were clothed in a sort of tunic of light cloth
which reached to the knees. Beneath this they wore only a loin cloth
of the same material, while their feet were shod with thick hide of
some mammoth creature of this inner world.
Their arms and necks were encircled by many ornaments of metal--silver
predominating--and on their tunics were sewn the heads of tiny reptiles
in odd and rather artistic designs. They talked among themselves as
they marched along on either side of us, but in a language which I
perceived differed from that employed by our fellow prisoners. When
they addressed the latter they used what appeared to be a third
language, and which I later learned is a mongrel tongue rather
analogous to the Pidgin-English of the Chinese coolie.
How far we marched I have no conception, nor has Perry. Both of us
were asleep much of the time for hours before a halt was called--then
we dropped in our tracks. I say "for hours," but how may one measure
time where time does not exist! When our march commenced the sun stood
at zenith. When we halted our shadows still pointed toward nadir.
Whether an instant or an eternity of earthly time elapsed who may say.
That march may have occupied nine years and eleven months of the ten
years that I spent in the inner world, or it may have been accomplished
in the fraction of a second--I cannot tell. But this I do know that
since you have told me that ten years have elapsed since I departed
from this earth I have lost all respect for time--I am commencing to
doubt that such a thing exists other than in the weak, finite mind of
man.