XIV

XIV

THE GARDEN OF EDEN

WITH NO HEAVENLY GUIDE, IT IS LITTLE WONDER that I became

confused

and lost in the labyrinthine maze of those mighty hills.

What, in reality, I did was to pass entirely through them

and come out above the valley upon the farther side.

I know that I wandered for a long time, until tired and

hungry I came upon a small cave in the face of the limestone

formation which had taken the place of the granite farther back.

The cave which took my fancy lay halfway up the precipitous

side of a lofty cliff. The way to it was such that I

knew no extremely formidable beast could frequent it,

nor was it large enough to make a comfortable habitat

for any but the smaller mammals or reptiles. Yet it

was with the utmost caution that I crawled within its

dark interior.

Here I found a rather large chamber, lighted by a

narrow cleft in the rock above which let the sunlight

filter in in sufficient quantities partially to dispel

the utter darkness which I had expected. The cave was

entirely empty, nor were there any signs of its having been

recently occupied. The opening was comparatively small,

so that after considerable effort I was able to lug

up a bowlder from the valley below which entirely blocked it.

Then I returned again to the valley for an armful of grasses

and on this trip was fortunate enough to knock over

an orthopi, the diminutive horse of Pellucidar, a little

animal about the size of a fox terrier, which abounds

in all parts of the inner world. Thus, with food

and bedding I returned to my lair, where after a meal

of raw meat, to which I had now become quite accustomed,

I dragged the bowlder before the entrance and curled

myself upon a bed of grasses--a naked, primeval, cave man,

as savagely primitive as my prehistoric progenitors.

I awoke rested but hungry, and pushing the bowlder aside

crawled out upon the little rocky shelf which was my

front porch. Before me spread a small but beautiful valley,

through the center of which a clear and sparkling river

wound its way down to an inland sea, the blue waters

of which were just visible between the two mountain ranges

which embraced this little paradise. The sides of the

opposite hills were green with verdure, for a great forest

clothed them to the foot of the red and yellow and copper

green of the towering crags which formed their summit.

The valley itself was carpeted with a luxuriant grass,

while here and there patches of wild flowers made great

splashes of vivid color against the prevailing green.

Dotted over the face of the valley were little clusters

of palmlike trees--three or four together as a rule.

Beneath these stood antelope, while others grazed in the open,

or wandered gracefully to a near-by ford to drink.

There were several species of this beautiful animal,

the most magnificent somewhat resembling the giant eland

of Africa, except that their spiral horns form a complete

curve backward over their ears and then forward again

beneath them, ending in sharp and formidable points

some two feet before the face and above the eyes.

In size they remind one of a pure bred Hereford bull,

yet they are very agile and fast. The broad yellow bands

that stripe the dark roan of their coats made me take

them for zebra when I first saw them. All in all they

are handsome animals, and added the finishing touch

to the strange and lovely landscape that spread before my

new home.

I had determined to make the cave my headquarters,

and with it as a base make a systematic exploration

of the surrounding country in search of the land

of Sari. First I devoured the remainder of the carcass

of the orthopi I had killed before my last sleep.

Then I hid the Great Secret in a deep niche at the back

of my cave, rolled the bowlder before my front door,

and with bow, arrows, sword, and shield scrambled down

into the peaceful valley.

The grazing herds moved to one side as I passed through them,

the little orthopi evincing the greatest wariness and

galloping to safest distances. All the animals stopped

feeding as I approached, and after moving to what they

considered a safe distance stood contemplating me with

serious eyes and up-cocked ears. Once one of the old bull

antelopes of the striped species lowered his head and

bellowed angrily--even taking a few steps in my direction,

so that I thought he meant to charge; but after I had passed,

he resumed feeding as though nothing had disturbed him.

Near the lower end of the valley I passed a number of tapirs,

and across the river saw a great sadok, the enormous

double-horned progenitor of the modern rhinoceros.

At the valley's end the cliffs upon the left ran

out into the sea, so that to pass around them as I

desired to do it was necessary to scale them in search

of a ledge along which I might continue my journey.

Some fifty feet from the base I came upon a projection

which formed a natural path along the face of the cliff,

and this I followed out over the sea toward the cliff's end.

Here the ledge inclined rapidly upward toward the top

of the cliffs--the stratum which formed it evidently having

been forced up at this steep angle when the mountains

behind it were born. As I climbed carefully up the ascent

my attention suddenly was attracted aloft by the sound

of strange hissing, and what resembled the flapping of wings.

And at the first glance there broke upon my horrified vision

the most frightful thing I had seen even within Pellucidar.

It was a giant dragon such as is pictured in the legends

and fairy tales of earth folk. Its huge body must have

measured forty feet in length, while the batlike wings

that supported it in midair had a spread of fully thirty.

Its gaping jaws were armed with long, sharp teeth,

and its claw equipped with horrible talons.

The hissing noise which had first attracted my attention

was issuing from its throat, and seemed to be directed

at something beyond and below me which I could not see.

The ledge upon which I stood terminated abruptly a few

paces farther on, and as I reached the end I saw the cause

of the reptile's agitation.

Some time in past ages an earthquake had produced a fault

at this point, so that beyond the spot where I stood

the strata had slipped down a matter of twenty feet.

The result was that the continuation of my ledge lay twenty

feet below me, where it ended as abruptly as did the end

upon which I stood.

And here, evidently halted in flight by this insurmountable

break in the ledge, stood the object of the creature's

attack--a girl cowering upon the narrow platform,

her face buried in her arms, as though to shut out the

sight of the frightful death which hovered just above her.

The dragon was circling lower, and seemed about to dart

in upon its prey. There was no time to be lost,

scarce an instant in which to weigh the possible

chances that I had against the awfully armed creature;

but the sight of that frightened girl below me called

out to all that was best in me, and the instinct for

protection of the other sex, which nearly must have

equaled the instinct of self-preservation in primeval man,

drew me to the girl's side like an irresistible magnet.

Almost thoughtless of the consequences, I leaped from

the end of the ledge upon which I stood, for the tiny

shelf twenty feet below. At the same instant the dragon

darted in toward the girl, but my sudden advent upon the

scene must have startled him for he veered to one side,

and then rose above us once more.

The noise I made as I landed beside her convinced the girl

that the end had come, for she thought I was the dragon;

but finally when no cruel fangs closed upon her she

raised her eyes in astonishment. As they fell upon me

the expression that came into them would be difficult

to describe; but her feelings could scarcely have been

one whit more complicated than my own--for the wide eyes

that looked into mine were those of Dian the Beautiful.

"Dian!" I cried. "Dian! Thank God that I came in time."

"You?" she whispered, and then she hid her face again;

nor could I tell whether she were glad or angry that I

had come.

Once more the dragon was sweeping toward us, and so rapidly

that I had no time to unsling my bow. All that I could

do was to snatch up a rock, and hurl it at the thing's

hideous face. Again my aim was true, and with a hiss

of pain and rage the reptile wheeled once more and soared away.

Quickly I fitted an arrow now that I might be ready

at the next attack, and as I did so I looked down at

the girl, so that I surprised her in a surreptitious

glance which she was stealing at me; but immediately,

she again covered her face with her hands.

"Look at me, Dian," I pleaded. "Are you not glad to see me?"

She looked straight into my eyes.

"I hate you," she said, and then, as I was about to beg

for a fair hearing she pointed over my shoulder.

"The thipdar comes," she said, and I turned again to meet

the reptile.

So this was a thipdar. I might have known it. The cruel

bloodhound of the Mahars. The long-extinct pterodactyl

of the outer world. But this time I met it with a weapon it

never had faced before. I had selected my longest arrow,

and with all my strength had bent the bow until the very

tip of the shaft rested upon the thumb of my left hand,

and then as the great creature darted toward us I let

drive straight for that tough breast.

Hissing like the escape valve of a steam engine,

the mighty creature fell turning and twisting into the

sea below, my arrow buried completely in its carcass.

I turned toward the girl. She was looking past me.

It was evident that she had seen the thipdar die.

"Dian," I said, "won't you tell me that you are not sorry

that I have found you?"

"I hate you," was her only reply; but I imagined

that there was less vehemence in it than before--yet

it might have been but my imagination.

"Why do you hate me, Dian?" I asked, but she did not

answer me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, "and what has happened

to you since Hooja freed you from the Sagoths?"

At first I thought that she was going to ignore me entirely,

but finally she thought better of it.

"I was again running away from Jubal the Ugly One,"

she said. "After I escaped from the Sagoths I made my way

alone back to my own land; but on account of Jubal I did

not dare enter the villages or let any of my friends know

that I had returned for fear that Jubal might find out.

By watching for a long time I found that my brother

had not yet returned, and so I continued to live in a

cave beside a valley which my race seldom frequents,

awaiting the time that he should come back and free me

from Jubal.

"But at last one of Jubal's hunters saw me as I was creeping

toward my father's cave to see if my brother had yet

returned and he gave the alarm and Jubal set out after me.

He has been pursuing me across many lands. He cannot

be far behind me now. When he comes he will kill you

and carry me back to his cave. He is a terrible man.

I have gone as far as I can go, and there is no escape,"

and she looked hopelessly up at the continuation of the ledge

twenty feet above us.

"But he shall not have me," she suddenly cried,

with great vehemence. "The sea is there"--she pointed over

the edge of the cliff--"and the sea shall have me rather than

Jubal."

"But I have you now Dian," I cried; "nor shall Jubal,

nor any other have you, for you are mine," and I seized

her hand, nor did I lift it above her head and let it fall

in token of release.

She had risen to her feet, and was looking straight

into my eyes with level gaze.

"I do not believe you," she said, "for if you meant it

you would have done this when the others were present

to witness it--then I should truly have been your mate;

now there is no one to see you do it, for you know that

without witnesses your act does not bind you to me,"

and she withdrew her hand from mine and turned away.

I tried to convince her that I was sincere, but she

simply couldn't forget the humiliation that I had put

upon her on that other occasion.

"If you mean all that you say you will have ample chance to

prove it," she said, "if Jubal does not catch and kill you.

I am in your power, and the treatment you accord me

will be the best proof of your intentions toward me.

I am not your mate, and again I tell you that I hate you,

and that I should be glad if I never saw you again."

Dian certainly was candid. There was no gainsaying that.

In fact I found candor and directness to be quite

a marked characteristic of the cave men of Pellucidar.

Finally I suggested that we make some attempt to gain

my cave, where we might escape the searching Jubal,

for I am free to admit that I had no considerable desire

to meet the formidable and ferocious creature, of whose

mighty prowess Dian had told me when I first met her.

He it was who, armed with a puny knife, had met and killed

a cave bear in a hand-to-hand struggle. It was Jubal who

could cast his spear entirely through the armored carcass

of the sadok at fifty paces. It was he who had crushed

the skull of a charging dyryth with a single blow of his

war club. No, I was not pining to meet the Ugly One-and it

was quite certain that I should not go out and hunt for him;

but the matter was taken out of my hands very quickly,

as is often the way, and I did meet Jubal the Ugly One face

to face.

This is how it happened. I had led Dian back along

the ledge the way she had come, searching for a path

that would lead us to the top of the cliff, for I knew

that we could then cross over to the edge of my own

little valley, where I felt certain we should find a means

of ingress from the cliff top. As we proceeded along

the ledge I gave Dian minute directions for finding my

cave against the chance of something happening to me.

I knew that she would be quite safely hidden away

from pursuit once she gained the shelter of my lair,

and the valley would afford her ample means of sustenance.

Also, I was very much piqued by her treatment of me.

My heart was sad and heavy, and I wanted to make her feel

badly by suggesting that something terrible might happen

to me--that I might, in fact, be killed. But it didn't

work worth a cent, at least as far as I could perceive.

Dian simply shrugged those magnificent shoulders of hers,

and murmured something to the effect that one was not rid of

trouble so easily as that.

For a while I kept still. I was utterly squelched.

And to think that I had twice protected her from

attack--the last time risking my life to save hers.

It was incredible that even a daughter of the Stone Age

could be so ungrateful--so heartless; but maybe her heart

partook of the qualities of her epoch.

Presently we found a rift in the cliff which had been widened

and extended by the action of the water draining through it

from the plateau above. It gave us a rather rough climb

to the summit, but finally we stood upon the level mesa

which stretched back for several miles to the mountain range.

Behind us lay the broad inland sea, curving upward in the

horizonless distance to merge into the blue of the sky,

so that for all the world it looked as though the sea

lapped back to arch completely over us and disappear beyond

the distant mountains at our backs--the weird and uncanny

aspect of the seascapes of Pellucidar balk description.

At our right lay a dense forest, but to the left the country

was open and clear to the plateau's farther verge.

It was in this direction that our way led, and we had

turned to resume our journey when Dian touched my arm.

I turned to her, thinking that she was about to make

peace overtures; but I was mistaken.

"Jubal," she said, and nodded toward the forest.

I looked, and there, emerging from the dense wood,

came a perfect whale of a man. He must have been seven

feet tall, and proportioned accordingly. He still was

too far off to distinguish his features.

"Run," I said to Dian. "I can engage him until you get

a good start. Maybe I can hold him until you have gotten

entirely away," and then, without a backward glance,

I advanced to meet the Ugly One. I had hoped that Dian

would have a kind word to say to me before she went,

for she must have known that I was going to my death

for her sake; but she never even so much as bid me

good-bye, and it was with a heavy heart that I strode

through the flower-bespangled grass to my doom.

When I had come close enough to Jubal to distinguish

his features I understood how it was that he had earned

the sobriquet of Ugly One. Apparently some fearful

beast had ripped away one entire side of his face.

The eye was gone, the nose, and all the flesh, so that

his jaws and all his teeth were exposed and grinning

through the horrible scar.

Formerly he may have been as good to look upon as the others

of his handsome race, and it may be that the terrible

result of this encounter had tended to sour an already

strong and brutal character. However this may be it

is quite certain that he was not a pretty sight, and now

that his features, or what remained of them, were distorted

in rage at the sight of Dian with another male, he was

indeed most terrible to see--and much more terrible to meet.

He had broken into a run now, and as he advanced he

raised his mighty spear, while I halted and fitting

an arrow to my bow took as steady aim as I could.

I was somewhat longer than usual, for I must confess that

the sight of this awful man had wrought upon my nerves

to such an extent that my knees were anything but steady.

What chance had I against this mighty warrior for whom

even the fiercest cave bear had no terrors! Could I

hope to best one who slaughtered the sadok and dyryth

singlehanded! I shuddered; but, in fairness to myself,

my fear was more for Dian than for my own fate.

And then the great brute launched his massive stone-tipped

spear, and I raised my shield to break the force of its

terrific velocity. The impact hurled me to my knees,

but the shield had deflected the missile and I was unscathed.

Jubal was rushing upon me now with the only remaining

weapon that he carried--a murderous-looking knife.

He was too close for a careful bowshot, but I let drive

at him as he came, without taking aim. My arrow pierced

the fleshy part of his thigh, inflicting a painful

but not disabling wound. And then he was upon me.

My agility saved me for the instant. I ducked beneath

his raised arm, and when he wheeled to come at me again he

found a sword's point in his face. And a moment later he

felt an inch or two of it in the muscles of his knife arm,

so that thereafter he went more warily.

It was a duel of strategy now--the great, hairy man maneuvering

to get inside my guard where he could bring those giant

thews to play, while my wits were directed to the task

of keeping him at arm's length. Thrice he rushed me,

and thrice I caught his knife blow upon my shield.

Each time my sword found his body--once penetrating

to his lung. He was covered with blood by this time,

and the internal hemorrhage induced paroxysms of coughing

that brought the red stream through the hideous mouth

and nose, covering his face and breast with bloody froth.

He was a most unlovely spectacle, but he was far from dead.

As the duel continued I began to gain confidence, for,

to be perfectly candid, I had not expected to survive

the first rush of that monstrous engine of ungoverned

rage and hatred. And I think that Jubal, from utter

contempt of me, began to change to a feeling of respect,

and then in his primitive mind there evidently loomed

the thought that perhaps at last he had met his master,

and was facing his end.

At any rate it is only upon this hypothesis that I can

account for his next act, which was in the nature of a last

resort--a sort of forlorn hope, which could only have been

born of the belief that if he did not kill me quickly

I should kill him. It happened on the occasion of his

fourth charge, when, instead of striking at me with his knife,

he dropped that weapon, and seizing my sword blade in both

his hands wrenched the weapon from my grasp as easily as

from a babe.

Flinging it far to one side he stood motionless for just

an instant glaring into my face with such a horrid leer

of malignant triumph as to almost unnerve me--then he

sprang for me with his bare hands. But it was Jubal's

day to learn new methods of warfare. For the first time

he had seen a bow and arrows, never before that duel

had he beheld a sword, and now he learned what a man

who knows may do with his bare fists.

As he came for me, like a great bear, I ducked again

beneath his outstretched arm, and as I came up planted

as clean a blow upon his jaw as ever you have seen.

Down went that great mountain of flesh sprawling upon

the ground. He was so surprised and dazed that he lay there

for several seconds before he made any attempt to rise,

and I stood over him with another dose ready when he

should gain his knees.

Up he came at last, almost roaring in his rage and mortification;

but he didn't stay up--I let him have a left fair on the

point of the jaw that sent him tumbling over on his back.

By this time I think Jubal had gone mad with hate, for no sane

man would have come back for more as many times as he did.

Time after time I bowled him over as fast as he could

stagger up, until toward the last he lay longer on the

ground between blows, and each time came up weaker than before.

He was bleeding very profusely now from the wound in his lungs,

and presently a terrific blow over the heart sent him

reeling heavily to the ground, where he lay very still,

and somehow I knew at once that Jubal the Ugly One would

never get up again. But even as I looked upon that massive

body lying there so grim and terrible in death, I could

not believe that I, single-handed, had bested this slayer

of fearful beasts--this gigantic ogre of the Stone Age.

Picking up my sword I leaned upon it, looking down on

the dead body of my foeman, and as I thought of the battle

I had just fought and won a great idea was born in my

brain--the outcome of this and the suggestion that Perry

had made within the city of Phutra. If skill and science

could render a comparative pygmy the master of this

mighty brute, what could not the brute's fellows accomplish

with the same skill and science. Why all Pellucidar would

be at their feet--and I would be their king and Dian their queen.

Dian! A little wave of doubt swept over me. It was quite

within the possibilities of Dian to look down upon me even

were I king. She was quite the most superior person I

ever had met--with the most convincing way of letting you

know that she was superior. Well, I could go to the cave,

and tell her that I had killed Jubal, and then she

might feel more kindly toward me, since I had freed her

of her tormentor. I hoped that she had found the cave

easily--it would be terrible had I lost her again, and I

turned to gather up my shield and bow to hurry after her,

when to my astonishment I found her standing not ten paces

behind me.

"Girl!" I cried, "what are you doing here? I thought

that you had gone to the cave, as I told you to do."

Up went her head, and the look that she gave me took

all the majesty out of me, and left me feeling more

like the palace janitor--if palaces have janitors.

"As you told me to do!" she cried, stamping her little foot.

"I do as I please. I am the daughter of a king,

and furthermore, I hate you."

I was dumbfounded--this was my thanks for saving

her from Jubal! I turned and looked at the corpse.

"May be that I saved you from a worse fate, old man,"

I said, but I guess it was lost on Dian, for she never

seemed to notice it at all.

"Let us go to my cave," I said, "I am tired and hungry."

She followed along a pace behind me, neither of us speaking.

I was too angry, and she evidently didn't care to converse

with the lower orders. I was mad all the way through,

as I had certainly felt that at least a word of thanks should

have rewarded me, for I knew that even by her own standards,

I must have done a very wonderful thing to have killed

the redoubtable Jubal in a hand-to-hand encounter.

We had no difficulty in finding my lair, and then I went

down into the valley and bowled over a small antelope,

which I dragged up the steep ascent to the ledge before

the door. Here we ate in silence. Occasionally I glanced

at her, thinking that the sight of her tearing at raw

flesh with her hands and teeth like some wild animal

would cause a revulsion of my sentiments toward her;

but to my surprise I found that she ate quite as daintily

as the most civilized woman of my acquaintance, and finally

I found myself gazing in foolish rapture at the beauties

of her strong, white teeth. Such is love.

After our repast we went down to the river together

and bathed our hands and faces, and then after drinking

our fill went back to the cave. Without a word I crawled

into the farthest corner and, curling up, was soon asleep.

When I awoke I found Dian sitting in the doorway looking out

across the valley. As I came out she moved to one side to let

me pass, but she had no word for me. I wanted to hate her,

but I couldn't. Every time I looked at her something came

up in my throat, so that I nearly choked. I had never been

in love before, but I did not need any aid in diagnosing

my case--I certainly had it and had it bad. God, how I

loved that beautiful, disdainful, tantalizing, prehistoric girl!

After we had eaten again I asked Dian if she intended

returning to her tribe now that Jubal was dead, but she

shook her head sadly, and said that she did not dare,

for there was still Jubal's brother to be considered--his

oldest brother.

"What has he to do with it?" I asked. "Does he too want you,

or has the option on you become a family heirloom,

to be passed on down from generation to generation?"

She was not quite sure as to what I meant.

"It is probable," she said, "that they all will want revenge

for the death of Jubal--there are seven of them--seven

terrible men. Someone may have to kill them all,

if I am to return to my people."

It began to look as though I had assumed a contract much

too large for me--about seven sizes, in fact.

"Had Jubal any cousins?" I asked. It was just as well

to know the worst at once.

"Yes," replied Dian, "but they don't count--they all have mates.

Jubal's brothers have no mates because Jubal could get

none for himself. He was so ugly that women ran away

from him--some have even thrown themselves from the cliffs

of Amoz into the Darel Az rather than mate with the Ugly One."

"But what had that to do with his brothers?" I asked.

"I forget that you are not of Pellucidar," said Dian,

with a look of pity mixed with contempt, and the contempt

seemed to be laid on a little thicker than the circumstance

warranted--as though to make quite certain that I shouldn't

overlook it. "You see," she continued, "a younger brother

may not take a mate until all his older brothers have

done so, unless the older brother waives his prerogative,

which Jubal would not do, knowing that as long as he

kept them single they would be all the keener in aiding

him to secure a mate."

Noticing that Dian was becoming more communicative I

began to entertain hopes that she might be warming up

toward me a bit, although upon what slender thread

I hung my hopes I soon discovered.

"As you dare not return to Amoz," I ventured, "what is

to become of you since you cannot be happy here with me,

hating me as you do?"

"I shall have to put up with you," she replied coldly,

"until you see fit to go elsewhere and leave me in peace,

then I shall get along very well alone."

I looked at her in utter amazement. It seemed

incredible that even a prehistoric woman could

be so cold and heartless and ungrateful. Then I arose.

"I shall leave you NOW," I said haughtily, "I have had quite

enough of your ingratitude and your insults," and then I

turned and strode majestically down toward the valley.

I had taken a hundred steps in absolute silence, and then

Dian spoke.

"I hate you!" she shouted, and her voice broke--in rage,

I thought.

I was absolutely miserable, but I hadn't gone too far

when I began to realize that I couldn't leave her alone

there without protection, to hunt her own food amid

the dangers of that savage world. She might hate me,

and revile me, and heap indignity after indignity upon me,

as she already had, until I should have hated her;

but the pitiful fact remained that I loved her, and I

couldn't leave her there alone.

The more I thought about it the madder I got,

so that by the time I reached the valley I was furious,

and the result of it was that I turned right around

and went up that cliff again as fast as I had come down.

I saw that Dian had left the ledge and gone within the cave,

but I bolted right in after her. She was lying upon her

face on the pile of grasses I had gathered for her bed.

When she heard me enter she sprang to her feet like

a tigress.

"I hate you!" she cried.

Coming from the brilliant light of the noonday sun into

the semidarkness of the cave I could not see her features,

and I was rather glad, for I disliked to think of the hate

that I should have read there.

I never said a word to her at first. I just strode

across the cave and grasped her by the wrists, and when

she struggled, I put my arm around her so as to pinion her

hands to her sides. She fought like a tigress, but I took

my free hand and pushed her head back--I imagine that I

had suddenly turned brute, that I had gone back a thousand

million years, and was again a veritable cave man taking

my mate by force--and then I kissed that beautiful mouth

again and again.

"Dian," I cried, shaking her roughly, "I love you.

Can't you understand that I love you? That I love you

better than all else in this world or my own? That I am

going to have you? That love like mine cannot be denied?"

I noticed that she lay very still in my arms now,

and as my eyes became accustomed to the light I saw

that she was smiling--a very contented, happy smile.

I was thunderstruck. Then I realized that, very gently,

she was trying to disengage her arms, and I loosened my

grip upon them so that she could do so. Slowly they came

up and stole about my neck, and then she drew my lips down

to hers once more and held them there for a long time.

At last she spoke.

"Why didn't you do this at first, David? I have been

waiting so long."

"What!" I cried. "You said that you hated me!"

"Did you expect me to run into your arms, and say that I

loved you before I knew that you loved me?" she asked.

"But I have told you right along that I love you," I said.

"Love speaks in acts," she replied. "You could have made

your mouth say what you wished it to say, but just now

when you came and took me in your arms your heart spoke

to mine in the language that a woman's heart understands.

What a silly man you are, David?"

"Then you haven't hated me at all, Dian?" I asked.

"I have loved you always," she whispered, "from the

first moment that I saw you, although I did not know

it until that time you struck down Hooja the Sly One,

and then spurned me."

"But I didn't spurn you, dear," I cried. "I didn't know

your ways--I doubt if I do now. It seems incredible

that you could have reviled me so, and yet have cared

for me all the time."

"You might have known," she said, "when I did not run away

from you that it was not hate which chained me to you.

While you were battling with Jubal, I could have run

to the edge of the forest, and when I learned the outcome

of the combat it would have been a simple thing to have

eluded you and returned to my own people."

"But Jubal's brothers--and cousins--" I reminded her,

"how about them?"

She smiled, and hid her face on my shoulder.

"I had to tell you SOMETHING, David," she whispered.

"I must needs have SOME excuse for remaining near you."

"You little sinner!" I exclaimed. "And you have caused

me all this anguish for nothing!"

"I have suffered even more," she answered simply, "for I

thought that you did not love me, and I was helpless.

I couldn't come to you and demand that my love be returned,

as you have just come to me. Just now when you went away

hope went with you. I was wretched, terrified, miserable,

and my heart was breaking. I wept, and I have not done

that before since my mother died," and now I saw that there

was the moisture of tears about her eyes. It was near

to making me cry myself when I thought of all that poor

child had been through. Motherless and unprotected;

hunted across a savage, primeval world by that hideous

brute of a man; exposed to the attacks of the countless

fearsome denizens of its mountains, its plains, and its

jungles--it was a miracle that she had survived it all.

To me it was a revelation of the things my early forebears

must have endured that the human race of the outer

crust might survive. It made me very proud to think

that I had won the love of such a woman. Of course

she couldn't read or write; there was nothing cultured

or refined about her as you judge culture and refinement;

but she was the essence of all that is best in woman,

for she was good, and brave, and noble, and virtuous.

And she was all these things in spite of the fact

that their observance entailed suffering and danger

and possible death.

How much easier it would have been to have gone to Jubal

in the first place! She would have been his lawful mate.

She would have been queen in her own land--and it meant

just as much to the cave woman to be a queen in the Stone

Age as it does to the woman of today to be a queen now;

it's all comparative glory any way you look at it,

and if there were only half-naked savages on the outer

crust today, you'd find that it would be considerable glory

to be the wife a Dahomey chief.

I couldn't help but compare Dian's action with that

of a splendid young woman I had known in New York--I

mean splendid to look at and to talk to. She had been

head over heels in love with a chum of mine--a clean,

manly chap--but she had married a broken-down, disreputable

old debauchee because he was a count in some dinky

little European principality that was not even accorded

a distinctive color by Rand McNally.

Yes, I was mighty proud of Dian.

After a time we decided to set out for Sari, as I was anxious

to see Perry, and to know that all was right with him.

I had told Dian about our plan of emancipating the human

race of Pellucidar, and she was fairly wild over it.

She said that if Dacor, her brother, would only return he

could easily be king of Amoz, and that then he and Ghak

could form an alliance. That would give us a flying start,

for the Sarians and the Amozites were both very powerful tribes.

Once they had been armed with swords, and bows and arrows,

and trained in their use we were confident that they

could overcome any tribe that seemed disinclined to join

the great army of federated states with which we were

planning to march upon the Mahars.

I explained the various destructive engines of war

which Perry and I could construct after a little

experimentation--gunpowder, rifles, cannon, and the like,

and Dian would clap her hands, and throw her arms about my neck,

and tell me what a wonderful thing I was. She was beginning

to think that I was omnipotent although I really hadn't

done anything but talk--but that is the way with women

when they love. Perry used to say that if a fellow was

one-tenth as remarkable as his wife or mother thought him,

he would have the world by the tail with a down-hill drag.

The first time we started for Sari I stepped into a nest

of poisonous vipers before we reached the valley.

A little fellow stung me on the ankle, and Dian made me

come back to the cave. She said that I mustn't exercise,

or it might prove fatal--if it had been a full-grown

snake that struck me she said, I wouldn't have moved

a single pace from the nest--I'd have died in my tracks,

so virulent is the poison. As it was I must have been laid

up for quite a while, though Dian's poultices of herbs

and leaves finally reduced the swelling and drew out

the poison.

The episode proved most fortunate, however, as it gave

me an idea which added a thousand-fold to the value

of my arrows as missiles of offense and defense.

As soon as I was able to be about again, I sought out

some adult vipers of the species which had stung me,

and having killed them, I extracted their virus,

smearing it upon the tips of several arrows. Later I

shot a hyaenodon with one of these, and though my arrow

inflicted but a superficial flesh wound the beast

crumpled in death almost immediately after he was hit.

We now set out once more for the land of the Sarians,

and it was with feelings of sincere regret that we bade

good-bye to our beautiful Garden of Eden, in the comparative

peace and harmony of which we had lived the happiest moments

of our lives. How long we had been there I did not know,

for as I have told you, time had ceased to exist for me

beneath that eternal noonday sun--it may have been an hour,

or a month of earthly time; I do not know.