III

III

A CHANGE OF MASTERS

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 horde.

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.