The evening world. Newspaper, June 8, 1914, Page 13

Delieve this story. But I believe the story, Of date palme within a tiny oasis, | ght oF ten tents. 8 white man. Tell me the date. What the most it could be scarce more than CHAPTER I. « The Eternal Fires. WAS born in Connecticut about thirty years ago. My name is David Innes. I am @ graduate of Andover and Yale. father was a wealthy mine- When 1D was nineteen he 4164. All bis property was to be mffie when I had attained my ma- Jonity. ‘Then. Perry interested me in his ention. Roughly, it is a stecl cylinder a hundred feet long, and jointed so that it‘mbay turn and twist through solid rdek “If need be. At one end is a mighty revolving drill operated by an igine which Perry said generated power to the cubic inch than other engine did to the cubic foot I remember that he used to claim that that invention alone would make us fabulously wealthy—we were going to make the whole thing pub- lig after the sue of our first secret tri Perry never re- turned from that trial trip, and I only after ten years. I recall as it were but y the night of that momentous occa- sion upon which we were to test the ’ practicability of that wondrous 1 vention. it was near midnight that we repaired to the lofty tower in which Perry had constructed bis “iron mole,” as he wae wont to call the thing. ‘The great nose rested upon the bare earth of the fioor, We passed through the doors into the outer jacket, secured them, and then p: ing on into the cabi ‘con tained the controlling mechanism within the inner tube, switched on She electric lights. Perry looked to his generato! the great tanks that held th giving chemicals with which to manufacture fresh air to replace that which we consumed in breath- ing; to bis instruments for recording temperatures, e for examining the material which we were to pass. jerday trapemitted its marvellous velocity to the giant drill at the nose of his strange craft. Our seats, into which we strapped ourselves, were #0 arranged upon (transverse bars that we would be yht whether the craft were hing her way downward into bowels of the earth, or running Berisontally along some great seam of coal, or rising vertically toward the eurface again. At length all was ready. Perry bowed his head in prayer. For a moment we were silent, and then the old man’s hand grasped the starting lever, There was a frightful roaring begeath ue—the giant frame trembled and vibrated—there was a rush of sound as the loose earth passed up through the hollow space between tbe inner and outer jackets, to be de ited in our wake, '@ were off! The noise was deafening. The aen- sation was frightful. For a full min- ute neither of us could do aught but bd with the proverbial desperation of drowning man to the handrails of our swinging seats. Then Perry at the thermometer. “Gad!” he cried. “It cannot be pos- sible—quick! What does the distance metre read?" That and the speedometer were both on my side the cabin, and as I turned to take a reading from the T could hear Perry aiutte: It cannot be ering wheel. finally found the tiny needle in the dim light I translated Perry's evident excitement, and my heart within me. But when.I spoke I bid the fear which haunted me. . ill be seven hundred feet, Perry,” I said, “by the time you can turn her into the horizontal, “You'd better lend me a hand then, boy,” he replied, “for I cannot budge her out of the vertical alono. Heaven give that our combined stfength may be equal to the task, else we are lost. wormed my way to the old man's side with never a doubt but that the great wheel would yield on the instant to the power of my young and vigor- ous muscles. Nor was my belief mere vanity, for always had my physique been the envy and despair of my fol- lows. And for that very reason it had waxed even greater than nature had intended, since my natural pride in my great strength had led me to cara for and develop my body and my mauscles by every means within my power. What with boxing, footbail and baseball I had been in training since childhood. And go it was with the utmost con- fidence that I laid hold of the huge from rim, but though I threw every ounce of my strength into it my best was as unavailing as Perry's -AT THE E The Evening World Daily Magazine, Monday, June 8, 1914 (Coprright, 1914, by the Frank A, Munsey Co.) # the first place, please bear in mind that I do not expect you to and 80 would you had you heard tt from the lips of the man who told it to me. Tcame upon him quite suddenty, and no lese unerpectedly, upon the rim ef the Great Sahara. He was standing dcfore a goatokin tent amid a clump Close by war an Arab dowar of some ‘A¢ sight of me he advanced rapidly to meet us. “A white man!” he cried. “May the good Lord be pratsed! I have been \\wetentng you for hours, hoping against hope that this time there would be year ts it?” And when I told him he staggered as though he had been struck full in the face, 0 “at he was compelled to grasp my stirrup leather for support. “Ten years!" he murmured at last, “Ten yearg, and I thought that at one. “That night he told me his story—the story that I give you here as netrly in hie own words as I can recall them, had been—the thing would not budge. The grim, insensate, horrible thing that was holding us upon the straight road to death! At length I gave up the uscless struggle, and without a word returned to my seat. There was no need for words—at least none t! I could im- agine, unless Perry desired to pray. “What can we do?" I asked, hiding my pertubation beneath the mask of a low and level voice. “We may stop here, and die of asphyxiation when our atmosphere tanks are empty,” replied Perry, “or we may continue on with the slight hope that we may later sufficiently deflect the prospector from the ver- tical to carry us along the arc of a great circle which must eventually return us to the surface. “If we succeed in so doing before we reach the higher internal tem- perature we may yet survive. There would seem to me to be about one chance in several million that we shall succeed—otherwise we shall die more quickly, but no more surely than as though we sat supinely wait- ing for the torture of a slow and hor- rible death.” I glanced at the thermometer, It registered one hundred and ten de- grees. While we were talking the mighty iron mole had bored its way over a mile into the rock of the earth's crust. “Let us continue on, then,” I re- plied, “It should soon be over at this rate. You never intimated that the speed of this thing would be so high, Perry. Didn't you know it?” “No,” he answered. “I could not figure the speed exactly, for I had no instrument for measuring the mighty power of my generator. I reasoned, however, that we should Hiataiy about five hundred yards an jour.” “And we are making seven miles an hour,” I concluded for him, as I sat with my eyes upon the distance meter, “How thick ig the earth's crust, Perry?” I asked. “There are almost as many con- Jectures an to that as there are geol- oxists,” was his anawer. “One esti- mates it thirty miles, because the in- ternal heat, increasing at the rate of hi about one degree to each aeixty to F peventy fect deep, would be suffictent to fuse the most refractory sub- stances at that distance beneath the surface. “Another finds that the phenomena of precession and nutation require that the earth, if not entirely solid, must at least have a shell not less than eight hundred to a thousand miles in thickness. So there you are, You may take your choice.” “And if t should prove solid?” I asked. “It will_be all the same to us in the end, David,” replied Perry. “At the best our of! fuel will suffice to carry us but three or four days, while our atmosphere cannot last to exceed three. Neither, then, is sufficient to bear us in safety through eight thou: sand miles of rock to the Antipodes. “If the crust is of sufficient thick- neas we shall come to a final stop be- tween six and seven hundred miles beneath the earth's surface; but dur- ing the last hundred and fifty miles of our journey we shall be corpses, Am I correct?” I asked. “Quite correct, David. Aro you frightened?” "I do not know. It has all come so suddenly that I ecarce believe that either of us realize the real terrors of our position. I feel that I should be reduced to panic; but yet I am not, I imagine that the ehock has been so great as to etun our eengi- bilities.” Again I turned to the thermome! The mercury was rising with leas pidity. It was now but 140 degree: although we had penetrated to depth of nearly four miles. I told Perry, and he smiled, “We have shattered one theory at "was his only comment, and self. jumed ge thi leas then ‘he returned to his occupation of fluently steering wheel. IT once heard a pirate swear, but his best efforts would ve seemed like those of a tyro opgside of Perry's mastorful and ehtific im- precations. Once more I tried my hand at the wheel, but I might as well have ossayed to swing the earth itself. At my suggestion Perry stopped the generator, and as we came to rest I again threw all my strength into @ supreme effort to move the thing even a hair's breadth—but the re- sults were as barren as when we had been travelling at to} i T shook my head nd_mo- tioned to the starting lever, Perry pulled it toward him, and once again we were plunging downward toward eternity at the rate of seven milos an hour, I sat with my eyes glued to the thermometer and the distance meter. The mercury was rising very slowly now, though even at 145 de- greos it was almost unbearable with- in the narrow confines of our metal prison, About noon, or twelve hours after our start upon this unfortunate jour- ney, we had bored to a depth of eighty-four miles, at which point the mercury registered 153 degrees. Perry was becoming more hopeful, though upon what meagre food he sustained his optimism I could not conjecture. From cursing he bad turned to ainging. I felt that the ARTH’S CORE BRIER IRR IRI SS i ° N i w Ver Ng (in aed eX), i a EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS strain had at last affected his mind. For several hours we had not spoken except as he asked me for the read- ings of the instruments from time to time, and I announced them. My thoughts were filled with 4d live down. There was the affair Latin Commons at Andover w) houn and | had put «gunpowder in the stove and nearly killed one of the masters. id then—— jut what was the use? I was about to die and atone for all these things and several more. Already the heat was sufficient to give me a foretaste of the hereafter. A few more degrees and I should lose consciousness, “What are the readings now, Davia?” Perry's voice broke in upon my sombre reflections. “Ninety miles and one hundred and fifty-three degrees,” I replied. “Gad, but we've knocked that thir- ty-mile crust theory into a cocked at!" he cried gleefully. “Precious lot of good it will do us,” I growled back. “But, my boy,” he continued, “doesn't that temperature mean anything to you? hasn't gone up in six miles. it, son!” “Yes, I'm thinking of it,” I an- swered; “but what difference will it make when our alr supply is ex- ed whether the temperature is Think of one hundred and fifty-three degrees or a hundred and fifty-three thou- nd? We'll be just as dead, and no any- But I must admit that for some unaccountable reason the stationary temperature did renew my waning hope. What I hoped for I could not have explained, nor did I try. The very fact, as Perry took pains to ex- plain, of the blasting of several very exact and learned scientific hypothe- ges made it apparent that we could, not know what lay before us within the bowels of the earth, and so wa might continue to hope for the best, at least until we were dead—whén hope would no longer be cssential to our happiness. At one hundred miles the tempera- ture had dropped to one hundred and fifty-two and a half degrees! When I announced it Perry reached over and hugged me. From then on until noon of the second day it continued to drop until it became as uncomfortably cold as it had before been unbearably hot, Ata depth of two hundred and forty miles our nostrile were assailed by almost overpowering ammonia fumes, and the temperaturo had dropped to ten below zero! ‘We suffered nearly two hours of this intense and bitter cold, until at about 245 miles from the surface of the earth we entered a stratum of solid ice, when the mercury quickly rose to 82 degrees. During the next three hours we passed through ten miles of Ice, eventually emerging into another series of ammonia impreg- nated strata, where the mercury again fell to ten below. Slowly It rose once more until we were convinced that at last we were nearing the molten interior of the earth. At 400 miles the temperature had reached 152 degrees. Feverishly T watched the thermometer. Slowly it rose, Perry had ceased singing, and was at last praying. Our hopes had received such a death blow that the gradually in- creasing heat seemed to our distorted imaginations much greater than it really was For another hour I saw that pitil column of mercury rise and rise til at 410 miles It stood at 153 degre Now it was that we began to hang upon those readings in almost breathless anxiety. One hundred and fifty-three de- grees had been the maximum tem- perature above the ice stratum. Would it stop at this point again or would {t continue its merciless climb? We knew that there was no hope, and yet with the persistence of life itself we continued to bope against practical certainty. Already the air-tanks were at low ebb; there was barely enough of the precious gases to sustain us for an- But would we It seemed other twelve hours. be alive to know or care! incredible. At four hundred and twenty miles I took another reading. “Perry!” I shouted. “Perry, man! She's going down! She's going down! hundred and fifty-two one again.’ “Gad!” he cried. “What can it mean? Can the earth be cold at the centre?” “I do not know, Perry,” I answered, “But thank heaven, if I am to die, ft shall not be by fire—that is all that I have feared. I can face the thought of any death but that.” Down, down went the mercury un- til It stood as low as it had seven miles from the surface of the earth, and then of a sudden the realization broke upon us that death was very near. was the first to discover it. I saw him fussing with the valves that regulate the air supply, About the same time I began to experience difficulty in breathing. dizzy, my limbs heavy. I saw Perry crumple in his seat. He gave himeelf a shake and sat erect again, Then he turned toward me. “Good-by, David," he saia. “f guess this is the end,” and then he smiled and closed his eyes. “Good-by, Perry, and good luck to you,” nawered smiling back at hh I fought off that awful lethargy. I was very young; I did not want to die. It must have been an hour after Perry succumbed that I at last came to the realization that I could no longer carry on this unequal atruggle againat the inevitable. ‘With my last flickering ray of con- sciousness I turned mechanically to- ward the distance meter. It stood at exactly five hundred miles from the earth's surface—and suddenly the huge things that bore us came to a top. ‘The rattle of hurtling rock through the hollow jacket ceased. The wild racing of the giant drill betokened that {t was running loose in alr—and then another truth flashed upon me. The point of the prospector was above us, Slowly it dawned on me that since passing through the ice strata it had been above. We had turned in the fee and sped upward toward tho earth's crust. Thank God! We were safe! I put my nose to the intake pipe through which samples were to have been taken during the passage of the prorpector through the earth, and my fondest hopes were realized. A flood of fresh air was pouring into the iron cabin, ‘The reaction left me in a state of collapse, and I lost conactousness, CHAPTER Il. A Strange World. WAS unconsctous little more than an instant, for as I lunged forward from the crossbeam to which I had been clinging and fell with a crash to the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to myself. My first concern was with Perry. 1 I But A Complete Novel Each Week in My head felt ,, ‘was horrified at the thought that upon the very threshold of salvation ho might be dead. Tearing open bia shirt, I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried with ef; his heart was beating quite regularly. At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly across his forehead and face several times. In a moment I was rewarded by the raising of his lids. For a time he 4 wide-oyed and quite uncomprehending.§ Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and he sat up sniffing the air with an — of wonderment upon his e. “Why, David,” he cried at_ last, ‘4's air, as sure as I live. Why— why, what does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has hap- pened?” “It means that we're back at the surface all right, Perry,” I cried; “but where, I don’t know. I haven't opened her up yet. Been too busy reviving you. Lord, man, but you bad a close squeak.” “You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How long have I been unconscious?” “Not long. We turned tn the ice stratum. Don't you recall the sudden whirling of our seats? After that the drill was above us instead of below. ‘We didn’t notice it at the time, but I recall it now.” “You mean to say that we turned back in the ice stratum, David? That is not possible. The prospector can- not turn unless its nose Is deflected If the nose were deflected from the outside—by some external force or resistance—the steering wheel within would moved in response. The steerin, wheel was not budged, since we started. You know I did know It; but here we were with our drill racing in pure alr, and copious volumes of it pouring into the cabin. ‘We couldn’t bave turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well as you,” I replied; “but the fact re- mains that we did, for here we are this minute at the surface of the nd Iam going out to see just where. “Better wait till morning, David. It_must be midnight now.” I glanced at the chronometer. ir twelve. We have been ro hours, #o it must be Nevertheless I'm going to midnight. have a look at the blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing in,” and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door and swung it open. There was quit q loose material in the jacket I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer # In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly behind me as I threw it open. Tho upper half the surface of the ground. expression of surprise I looked at Perry. It was ylight without! “Something seems to have gone wrong either with Gee: SAICHIAtiogs or ange expression in his eyes. “Let's ha look beyond that door, David,’ cried, Together we jpped out to stand in silent contemplation of a landscape at once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and | shore strotched down to a silent . So far as the eye could reach the surface of the wate: was dotted with countless tiny isles—some of towering, barren granite rock, others lendent in gorgeous trappings of tropical vege- tation, myriad starred with the mag- nificent splendor of vivid blooms. Behind us rose a dark and forbid- ding wood of giant arborescent ferns intermingled with the commoner types of @ primeval tropical forest. Hue creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, dense underbrush ov grew a tangled mass of fallen trunky and branches. Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid color- ing of countless blossoms that glort- fied the islands, but within the dense shadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave. And upon all the noonday sun por its torrid rays out of a cloud- lea# sky. “Where on earth can we be?" I asked, turning to Perry. For some moments the old man did not reply. He stood with bowed head buried in deep thought. But at last he spoke. “David, cried. dead, and that this is heaven?" He emiled, and turning pointed to the nose of the prospector protruding from the ground at our backs. “But for that, David, I might be- Neve that we were indeed come to tbe country beyond the Styx. The pros- wpector renders that theory unten: It certainly could never have gon heaven. However, I am willing to concede that we may ually be ta another rid from that which we have always known. If we are not on earth, there is every reason to be- may be in It." have quartered through ‘8 crust and come out upon some tropical island of the Weat Indies,” 1 auxgested, Again Perry shook his head, When difficult an matter. costly You can reading for six cents a week. you authors. Bear this who expect to the foremost livin, y in pie _ NEXT WEEK’S COMPLETE NOVEL == IN. THE EVENING WORLD => Are You Going Away for the Summer? out of town for the summer you may find it is to provide yourself with the right sort of reading Why send to the city for novels at $1.25 or $1.50 each or buy them at a fancy price in some country store? supply yourself with the best, most delightful summer By subscribing to The Evening World for the summer months Ii! secure a complete novel each week. Not some old book a country dealer has not been able to sell, birt the finest up-to-date fiction not only for yourself but for any of friends spend the summer in the country. ie ee The Evening World 5 AR PAIRS OBR RRR R A RRA RI HH. LUT 2 seceesssesces “Let walt and ace, David,” replied, “and in the mean time eups pose we do a bit of exploring up down the coast. We may fi tive who can enlighten wu As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly acrose the water. Evidently he was wrest- ling with @ mighty problem. David,” he said abruptly, “do you reeive anything unusual about the orizon?” As I looked I began to reciate the reason for the strangeness of the landscape that had haunted me from the first with an {llusive muggestion of the bizarre and unnatural—there was No horizon! So far aa the eye could reach out to gee the sea continued and upon its bosom floated tiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere apeck but ever beyond them was the a until the impression became quite real that one wan looking up at the Most distant point that the eye could fathom—the distance was lost in the distance, That was all, There was no clear- cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below the line of vision. “A great light is commencing to break on me,” continued Perry, taking out his watch. “I believe that have partially solved the riddle. It is now two o'clock. When we em- erged from the prospector the aun wan directly above us. Where is it now?" T glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the centre of the heavens, And such a aun! TI had scarce noticed tt before, Fully thrice the size of the sun IT had known throughout my life, and apparently @o near that the sight of it carried the conviction that one might almost Teach up and touch it. “My God, Perry, where a I exclaimed. “This thing mencing to get on my nerv: “I think that I may state quite positively, David,” he commenced, “that we are”—— He got no further, From behind us in the vicinity of the prospector there came the moat thunderous, awe-inspiring roar that ever had fallen upon my cara With one ac- cord we turned to discover the author of that fearsome nolee. Had I atill retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight that met my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. BPmerging from the forest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a bear, It was fully as large as the largest elephant, and with great forepawe armed with huge claws. Ita nose or snout depended nearly a foot below its lower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary trunk. ind & na- wer” com- II. ‘The giant body wan covered by & coat of thick, shaggy batr. Roaring horribly, it cai us at @ ponderous, shyffli turned toward Perry to su; might be wise to seek other surround- ings. The idea had evidently o- curred to Perry previously, for he was ! already a hundred paces away, and with ch second his prodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed what latent speed pos- sibilities the old gentleman possease4. I saw that he was headed toward a Httle point of the forest which ran out toward the sea not far from e we had been standing, and as t mighty creature, the sight of which had galvanised him into such remarkable action, was forging stead- ily toward me I set off after Perry, though at a somewhat more decor- ous pace. It was evident that the massive ing us was not built for Il that I considered neces- sary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of it to enable me to climb to the safety of some great branch be- fore it came up. Notwithstanding our danger I cold not help but laugh at Perry's frantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branches of the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance of some fif- teen feet—at least on those trees which Perry attempted to ascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of the forest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen times he scrambled up the trunks like a huge cat, only to fall back to the ground once more, and with each failure he cast a horrified glance over his shoulder at the on- coming brute, simultaneously emit- ting terror-stricken shrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim forest. At length he espied a dangling creeper about the bigness of one's wrist, and when I reached the trees he was racing madly up it, hand over hand. He had almost reached the lowest branch of the tres from which the creeper depended, when the thing parted beneath his weight and he fell sprawling at my feet. The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for tho beast was already too , close to usforcomfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged him to his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree— one that he could easily encirole with his a and lexs—I boosted him as far up and then left him to his fate, nee over my shoul- der revealed the awful beast almost upon me, It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me, Its enormous bulk rendered It too slow upon ita feet to cope with the agility of my young muscles, and #0 I was enabled to dodge out of its way and run com- pletely behind it before Its slow wits could direct it in purault. ‘The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged in the branches of a tree a few pacers from that In which Perry had at last found b a haven. Did _T say safely lodged? At the See time I thought we were quite safe, and ao did Perry. He wan praying—raising his voice in thanksgiving at our deliverance— and had juat completed a sort of pman of gratitude that the thing couldn't climb a tree, when, without warning, it reared up beneath him on Ite enor- mous tall and hind feet, and reached those fearfully armed pawa quite to the branch upon which he crouched. The accompanying roar was all but drowned In Perry's scream of Fright and he was like to have tum headiong into the gaping ja neath him, so precipi wi impetuous haste to vacate the dan- THROWS INTO THE MIDDLE OF A “JUNE WEDDIN THE BEST MAN Seeececeoosss BY GRACE lL. BY “TARZAN’S” AUTHOR—THE ADVENTURES OF TWO EXPLORERS WHO DISCOVER A NEW AND ASTONISHING WORLD By Edgar Rice Burroughs r gerous limb. It was with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him reach forth Ce a higher branch in safety. And then the brute did that which froze us both anew with horror. Grasping the tree's stem with his powerful paws he dragged down with all the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible force of those mighty muscles. Slowly but surely the stem be; to bend toward him. worked his paws upw: leaned more and more ndicular, Perry clun, in a panic of terror. big! Into the bendin tree he clambered. Inch by inch he 'd as thi m, tree and swaying lore and more rapidly was the tree top inclining few toward the ground. I saw now why the great brute was be atrippe The reason for tts attacking might easily be accounted for on the supposition of an ugly disposition such as that which the flerce and stupid rhinoceros of Africa But there were later reflections, of their follag us At the moment I was too frantic with apprehension on Porry’a behalf to consider aught other than a means to save him from the death that loomed #0 close. Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, I dropped from my leafy sanctuary in- tent only on distraeting the thing’s attention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to gain the wafoty of a larger tree, There were many clowe by which not even the terrific atrength of that titanic mon- eter could bend. Aa I touched the ground I snatched @ broken limb from the tangled mass. that matted the jungle-like floor of the foreat, and, leaping unnoticed be- hind the shaggy back, dealt the brute @ terrific blow. My plan worked like magic, From the previous slowness of the beast I had been led to look for no such marvellous agility as he now dis- played. Releasing his hold upon the tree, he dropped on foura and at the same time ing his great, wicked with a force that would have broken ‘every bone in my body had it ptruck me; but fortunately I had turned to flee at the very instant that I felt my blow land upon the towering back. As it rted in pursuit of me I mistake of running along of the forest rather than for the open beach. In a moment I was knee deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing be- hind me was gaini rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricate myself. . bswarad | A fallen log gave me an advantage, for, climbing upon it, ped to another a few paces further on, and In this way was able to keep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But the sigsag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy handicap upon me that my pursuer was adily gaining upon me. Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp piercing barks—much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full cry. In- voluntarily I glanced backward to dis- cover the origin of this new and menacing note with the result that I missed my footing and went sprawl- ing once more upon my face in the deep muck, My mammoth enemy was go close by this time that I knew I must fool the weight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to my surprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and apping and barking of the new el: it which had been infused Into the melee now seemed centred quite close behind me, and as 1 raised myself upon my hands and glanced round I saw what it was that had distracted the “dyryth,” as I afterward learned the thing |e called, from my trail. tI was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures— wild dogs they seemed—that rushed growling \d snapping in upon it from Bo tl white fangs into the slow brute and were away again before it could reach them with its huge paws or sweeping tall. But these were not all t my startled eyes perceived. Chattering and gibbering through the lower branches of the tre & com- pany of man-like cr evidently urging on the dog They were to all appearances atrik- ingiy similar in aspect to the negro of Africa. Their skins were very black, and their features much like those of the more pronounced negroid type, except that the head receded more rapidly above the eyes, leaving little or_no forehead, ‘Their arms were rather longer and their lege shorter in proportion to the torso than in man, and later I noticed that thelr great toea protruded right angles from their feet-—beca of their arboreal habits, I presu Behind them trailed long, slender taile which th used in climbing quite as much as they did either their hands or feet. I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that the wolf doga were holding the dyryth at av age creatures left off worrying the great brute to come alinking with bared fangs toward me, a ao I turned to run toward the tre ain safety among the | r I naw a number of the man- the nearest tree. mn them and the beasts behind me there wae little choice, but at least there was a doubt as to the re- ception these grotesque parodies on humanity would accord me, while be the fate which th the grinning fangs of my flerce pursuers. ‘And so I raced on toward the trees, intending to pass beneath that which held the man-thinge and take refuge further 01 But the wolf-doge were very close behind me—so close that I had de- spaired of escaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree above they sank their ¢ Gc” CoO The Book on the Stands Will Cost You $1.25 — == You Get It for 6 Cents u ‘Then they fell to cranteing ie Stet a Sinan and my flesh, 1 They turned me about to had a tail, and when they that I was not so eq! Into roaro of laughter, brad May ti ag and white cept for @ upper canines, rotreding just, bit Ly pI YH ob ‘ 4 a ‘when the mouth When they had examined me for a’ lothing was not a part of me, with the result that garme: “a ment they tore it from me seed sth ‘ of the wildest laughter. selves, but thelr ingentity was selves, but their ait sufficient to the task and if they gave! up. i iii i Z af ii! him, though the clu of trees which he had frst taken fear that something had befallen and though I called his name several times there was no Tired at last of playing clothing, the creatures threw it fo the ground, and catching me, one an arm, started off ing pace through the ba bad h 1 ever have I experienced such Journey before or since. % either side, b; @ most terri CHAPTER III. A Change of Masters, ROM tree to tree agile crea- tures sprang like flying. equirrele, while the cold‘ @weat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the depthe beneath, into which a single Peep sd] on the part of either of my bearers’ would hurt me. As they bore me along my mina) was occupied with a thousand bewll~ dering thoughts. What bad become of Perry? What were the intentions of these half human things into whose hands I had fallen? © Were they inhabitants of the same world into which I had been ‘born? me It could not be, But yet where wood, when we came suddenly upon & dense village built high among the branches of the trees. As we Ge Ager tyser it my escort broke into wild shouting, which was immediately answered from wi and a moment later a swarm creatures of the same strange race as those who had captured me poured out to meet us. Again I was the centre of a wildly chattering horde. way and that. pinched, unded and thumped until I was k and blue, I do not thimk that their treatment was dictated by elther cruelty or malice. I was q Sy: & freak, a new plaything, and childish minde required the added evidence of all their senses to back ‘up the teatimony of their eyes. hundred helters of leaves supported upon the of the trees. Between the hu Firecte, were dead, branches streets, were and trunks of small trees which ‘connected the huts upon one tree to those with- in adjoining trees, the whole network of huts and P roe bined toi en al- feet I wondered why these agile crea-" rea required connecting bridges be- n the trees, but later when I eaw the motley aggregation of half sav: bei which they kept within thele vill I realised the necessity fer the pathways. Lt My guard halted before one of the buts, into which I was pushed; then ps oft {be creatures squatted down ore the entrance—to prevent escape, doubtless. wd Thad 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! ik the Lord you are safe.” And the and threw his arms about me. He had seen me fall before the dyryth, and then by a number of the ape- borne through the tree to tors hi as trange clothing as had mine, with the same result, As we looked at each other we could net help but laugh. “With @ tall, David,” remarked the creatures intend doing with us, Perry. They don't seem really age. “What do you suppose they cam tet You were about to tell me we are when that great hairy bore down upon us, Have you any idea at all?” : throug tia creates inner world “Perry, you are mad” Be Contineeae ‘ CATIO —————aal