“It may also be that they discovered your absence from the dungeon, and
coupling this with the fact that I, too, was missing, someone guessed
the identity of the two sailors who sought to pass through the gate and
who paid gold for a small boat at the river,” suggested Stellara.
“There goes one of them on the rocks,” cried Tanar, as the leading boat
disappeared in a smother of water.
The second boat shared the same fate as its predecessor, but the third
rode through the same opening that had carried Tanar and Stellara to the
safety of the beach and as it did the two fugitives turned and ran
toward the forest.
Behind them raced a dozen Korsars and amidst the crack of pistols and
harquebuses Tanar and Stellara disappeared within the dark shadows of
the primeval forest.
The story of their long and arduous journey through unknown lands to the
kingdom of Sari would be replete with interest, excitement and
adventure, but it is no part of this story.
It is enough to say that they arrived at Sari shortly before Ja and Gura
made their appearance, the latter having been delayed by adventures that
had almost cost them their lives.
The people of Sari welcomed the Amiocapian mate that the son of Ghak had
brought back to his own country. And Gura they accepted, too, because
she had befriended Tanar, though the young men accepted her for herself
and many were the trophies that were laid before the hut of the
beautiful Himean maiden. But she repulsed them all for in her heart she
held a secret love that she had never divulged, but which, perhaps,
Stellara had guessed and which may have accounted for the tender
solicitude which the Amiocapian maid revealed for her Himean sister.
CONCLUSION
As Perry neared the end of the story of Tanar of Pellucidar, the sending
became weaker and weaker until it died out entirely, and Jason Gridley
could hear no more.
He turned to me. “I think Perry had something more to say,” he said. “He
was trying to tell us something. He was trying to ask something.”
“Jason,” I said, reproachfully, “didn’t you tell me that the story of
the inner world is perfectly ridiculous; that there could be no such
place peopled by strange reptiles and men of the stone age? Didn’t you
insist that there is no Emperor of Pellucidar?”
“Tut-tut,” he said. “I apologize. I am sorry. But that is past. The
question now is what can we do.”
“About what?” I asked.
“Do you not realize that David Innes lies a prisoner in a dark dungeon
beneath the palace of The Cid of Korsar?” he demanded with more
excitement than I have ever known Jason Gridley to exhibit.
“Well, what of it?” I demanded. “I am sorry, of course; but what in the
world can we do to help him?”
“We can do a lot,” said Jason Gridley, determinedly.
I must confess that as I looked at him I felt considerable solicitude
for the state of his mind for he was evidently laboring under great
excitement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account