At the Earth's Core Read online

  II

  A STRANGE WORLD

  I was unconscious little more than an instant, for as I lunged forwardfrom the crossbeam to which I had been clinging, and fell with a crashto the floor of the cabin, the shock brought me to myself.

  My first concern was with Perry. I was horrified at the thought thatupon the very threshold of salvation he might be dead. Tearing openhis shirt I placed my ear to his breast. I could have cried withrelief--his heart was beating quite regularly.

  At the water tank I wetted my handkerchief, slapping it smartly acrosshis forehead and face several times. In a moment I was rewarded by theraising of his lids. For a time he lay wide-eyed and quiteuncomprehending. Then his scattered wits slowly foregathered, and hesat up sniffing the air with an expression of wonderment upon his face.

  "Why, David," he cried at last, "it's air, as sure as I live. Why--whywhat does it mean? Where in the world are we? What has happened?"

  "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 busyreviving you. Lord, man, but you had a close squeak!"

  "You say we're back at the surface, David? How can that be? How longhave I been unconscious?"

  "Not long. We turned in the ice stratum. Don't you recall the suddenwhirling of our seats? After that the drill was above you instead ofbelow. 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? Thatis not possible. The prospector cannot turn unless its nose isdeflected from the outside--by some external force or resistance--thesteering wheel within would have moved in response. The steering wheelhas not budged, David, since we started. You know that."

  I did know it; but here we were with our drill racing in pure air, andcopious volumes of it pouring into the cabin.

  "We couldn't have turned in the ice stratum, Perry, I know as well asyou," I replied; "but the fact remains that we did, for here we arethis minute at the surface of the earth again, and I am going out tosee just where."

  "Better wait till morning, David--it must be midnight now."

  I glanced at the chronometer.

  "Half after twelve. We have been out seventy-two hours, so it must bemidnight. Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the blessed skythat I had given up all hope of ever seeing again," and so saying Ilifted the bars from the inner door, and swung it open. There wasquite a quantity of loose material in the jacket, and this I had toremove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell.

  In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the floorof the cabin to expose the door beyond. Perry was directly behind meas I threw it open. The upper half was above the surface of theground. With an expression of surprise I turned and looked atPerry--it was broad day-light without!

  "Something seems to have gone wrong either with our calculations or thechronometer," I said. Perry shook his head--there was a strangeexpression in his eyes.

  "Let's have a look beyond that door, David," he cried.

  Together we stepped out to stand in silent contemplation of a landscapeat once weird and beautiful. Before us a low and level shore stretcheddown to a silent sea. As far as the eye could reach the surface of thewater was dotted with countless tiny isles--some of towering, barren,granitic rock--others resplendent in gorgeous trappings of tropicalvegetation, myriad starred with the magnificent splendor of vividblooms.

  Behind us rose a dark and forbidding wood of giant arborescent fernsintermingled with the commoner types of a primeval tropical forest.Huge creepers depended in great loops from tree to tree, denseunder-brush overgrew a tangled mass of fallen trunks and branches.Upon the outer verge we could see the same splendid coloring ofcountless blossoms that glorified the islands, but within the denseshadows all seemed dark and gloomy as the grave.

  And upon all the noonday sun poured its torrid rays out of a cloudlesssky.

  "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," he said, "I am not so sure that we are ON earth."

  "What do you mean Perry?" I cried. "Do you think that we are dead, andthis is heaven?" He smiled, and turning, pointing to the nose of theprospector protruding from the ground at our backs.

  "But for that, David, I might believe that we were indeed come to thecountry beyond the Styx. The prospector renders that theoryuntenable--it, certainly, could never have gone to heaven. However Iam willing to concede that we actually may be in another world fromthat which we have always known. If we are not ON earth, there isevery reason to believe that we may be IN it."

  "We may have quartered through the earth's crust and come out upon sometropical island of the West Indies," I suggested. Again Perry shookhis head.

  "Let us wait and see, David," he replied, "and in the meantime supposewe do a bit of exploring up and down the coast--we may find a nativewho can enlighten us."

  As we walked along the beach Perry gazed long and earnestly across thewater. Evidently he was wrestling with a mighty problem.

  "David," he said abruptly, "do you perceive anything unusual about thehorizon?"

  As I looked I began to appreciate the reason for the strangeness of thelandscape that had haunted me from the first with an illusivesuggestion of the bizarre and unnatural--THERE WAS NO HORIZON! As faras the eye could reach out the sea continued and upon its bosom floatedtiny islands, those in the distance reduced to mere specks; but everbeyond them was the sea, until the impression became quite real thatone was LOOKING UP at the most distant point that the eyes couldfathom--the distance was lost in the distance. That was all--there wasno clear-cut horizontal line marking the dip of the globe below theline of vision.

  "A great light is commencing to break on me," continued Perry, takingout his watch. "I believe that I have partially solved the riddle. Itis now two o'clock. When we emerged from the prospector the sun wasdirectly above us. Where is it now?"

  I glanced up to find the great orb still motionless in the center ofthe heaven. And such a sun! I had scarcely noticed it before. Fullythrice the size of the sun I had known throughout my life, andapparently so near that the sight of it carried the conviction that onemight almost reach up and touch it.

  "My God, Perry, where are we?" I exclaimed. "This thing is beginningto get on my nerves."

  "I think that I may state quite positively, David," he commenced, "thatwe are--" but he got no further. From behind us in the vicinity of theprospector there came the most thunderous, awe-inspiring roar that everhad fallen upon my ears. With one accord we turned to discover theauthor of that fearsome noise.

  Had I still retained the suspicion that we were on earth the sight thatmet my eyes would quite entirely have banished it. Emerging from theforest was a colossal beast which closely resembled a bear. It wasfully as large as the largest elephant and with great forepaws armedwith huge claws. Its nose, or snout, depended nearly a foot below itslower jaw, much after the manner of a rudimentary trunk. The giantbody was covered by a coat of thick, shaggy hair.

  Roaring horribly it came toward us at a ponderous, shuffling trot. Iturned to Perry to suggest that it might be wise to seek othersurroundings--the idea had evidently occurred to Perry previously, forhe was already a hundred paces away, and with each second hisprodigious bounds increased the distance. I had never guessed whatlatent speed possibilities the old gentleman possessed.

  I saw that he was headed toward a little point of the forest which ranout toward the sea not far from where we had been standing, and as themighty creature, the sight of which had galvanized him into suchremarkable action, was forging steadily toward me. I set off afterPerry, though at a somewhat more decorous pace. It was evident thatthe massive beast pursuing us was not built for speed, so all that Iconsidered necessary was to gain the trees sufficiently ahead of
it toenable me to climb to the safety of some great branch before it came up.

  Notwithstanding our danger I could not help but laugh at Perry'sfrantic capers as he essayed to gain the safety of the lower branchesof the trees he now had reached. The stems were bare for a distance ofsome fifteen feet--at least on those trees which Perry attempted toascend, for the suggestion of safety carried by the larger of theforest giants had evidently attracted him to them. A dozen times hescrambled up the trunks like a huge cat only to fall back to the groundonce more, and with each failure he cast a horrified glance over hisshoulder at the oncoming brute, simultaneously emitting terror-strickenshrieks that awoke the echoes of the grim forest.

  At length he spied 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 tree from which thecreeper depended when the thing parted beneath his weight and he fellsprawling at my feet.

  The misfortune now was no longer amusing, for the beast was already tooclose to us for comfort. Seizing Perry by the shoulder I dragged himto his feet, and rushing to a smaller tree--one that he could easilyencircle with his arms and legs--I boosted him as far up as I could,and then left him to his fate, for a glance over my shoulder revealedthe awful beast almost upon me.

  It was the great size of the thing alone that saved me. Its enormousbulk rendered it too slow upon its feet to cope with the agility of myyoung muscles, and so I was enabled to dodge out of its way and runcompletely behind it before its slow wits could direct it in pursuit.

  The few seconds of grace that this gave me found me safely lodged inthe branches of a tree a few paces from that in which Perry had at lastfound a haven.

  Did I say safely lodged? At the time I thought we were quite safe, andso did Perry. He was praying--raising his voice in thanksgiving at ourdeliverance--and had just completed a sort of paeon of gratitude thatthe thing couldn't climb a tree when without warning it reared upbeneath him on its enormous tail and hind feet, and reached thosefearfully armed paws quite to the branch upon which he crouched.

  The accompanying roar was all but drowned in Perry's scream of fright,and he came near tumbling headlong into the gaping jaws beneath him, soprecipitate was his impetuous haste to vacate the dangerous limb. Itwas with a deep sigh of relief that I saw him gain a higher branch insafety.

  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 withall the great weight of his huge bulk and all the irresistible force ofthose mighty muscles. Slowly, but surely, the stem began to bendtoward him. Inch by inch he worked his paws upward as the tree leanedmore and more from the perpendicular. Perry clung chattering in apanic of terror. Higher and higher into the bending and swaying treehe clambered. More and more rapidly was the tree top inclining towardthe ground.

  I saw now why the great brute was armed with such enormous paws. Theuse that he was putting them to was precisely that for which nature hadintended them. The sloth-like creature was herbivorous, and to feedthat mighty carcass entire trees must be stripped of their foliage.The reason for its attacking us might easily be accounted for on thesupposition of an ugly disposition such as that which the fierce andstupid rhinoceros of Africa possesses. But these were laterreflections. At the moment I was too frantic with apprehension onPerry's behalf to consider aught other than a means to save him fromthe death that loomed so close.

  Realizing that I could outdistance the clumsy brute in the open, Idropped from my leafy sanctuary intent only on distracting the thing'sattention from Perry long enough to enable the old man to gain thesafety of a larger tree. There were many close by which not even theterrific strength of that titanic monster could bend.

  As I touched the ground I snatched a broken limb from the tangled massthat matted the jungle-like floor of the forest and, leaping unnoticedbehind the shaggy back, dealt the brute a terrific blow. My planworked like magic. From the previous slowness of the beast I had beenled to look for no such marvelous agility as he now displayed.Releasing his hold upon the tree he dropped on all fours and at thesame time swung his great, wicked tail with a force that would havebroken every bone in my body had it struck me; but, fortunately, I hadturned to flee at the very instant that I felt my blow land upon thetowering back.

  As it started in pursuit of me I made the mistake of running along theedge of the forest rather than making for the open beach. In a momentI was knee-deep in rotting vegetation, and the awful thing behind mewas gaining rapidly as I floundered and fell in my efforts to extricatemyself.

  A fallen log gave me an instant's advantage, for climbing upon it Ileaped to another a few paces farther on, and in this way was able tokeep clear of the mush that carpeted the surrounding ground. But thezigzag course that this necessitated was placing such a heavy handicapupon me that my pursuer was steadily gaining upon me.

  Suddenly from behind I heard a tumult of howls, and sharp, piercingbarks--much the sound that a pack of wolves raises when in full cry.Involuntarily I glanced backward to discover the origin of this new andmenacing note with the result that I missed my footing and wentsprawling once more upon my face in the deep muck.

  My mammoth enemy was so close by this time that I knew I must feel theweight of one of his terrible paws before I could rise, but to mysurprise the blow did not fall upon me. The howling and snapping andbarking of the new element which had been infused into the melee nowseemed centered quite close behind me, and as I raised myself upon myhands and glanced around I saw what it was that had distracted theDYRYTH, as I afterward learned the thing is called, from my trail.

  It was surrounded by a pack of some hundred wolf-like creatures--wilddogs they seemed--that rushed growling and snapping in upon it from allsides, so that they sank their white fangs into the slow brute and wereaway again before it could reach them with its huge paws or sweepingtail.

  But these were not all that my startled eyes perceived. Chattering andgibbering through the lower branches of the trees came a company ofmanlike creatures evidently urging on the dog pack. They were to allappearances strikingly similar in aspect to the Negro of Africa. Theirskins were very black, and their features much like those of the morepronounced Negroid type except that the head receded more rapidly abovethe eyes, leaving little or no forehead. Their arms were rather longerand their legs shorter in proportion to the torso than in man, andlater I noticed that their great toes protruded at right angles fromtheir feet--because of their arboreal habits, I presume. Behind themtrailed long, slender tails which they used in climbing quite as muchas they did either their hands or feet.

  I had stumbled to my feet the moment that I discovered that thewolf-dogs were holding the dyryth at bay. At sight of me several ofthe savage creatures left off worrying the great brute to come slinkingwith bared fangs toward me, and as I turned to run toward the treesagain to seek safety among the lower branches, I saw a number of theman-apes leaping and chattering in the foliage of the nearest tree.

  Between them and the beasts behind me there was little choice, but atleast there was a doubt as to the reception these grotesque parodies onhumanity would accord me, while there was none as to the fate whichawaited me beneath the grinning fangs of my fierce pursuers.

  And so I raced on toward the trees intending to pass beneath that whichheld the man-things and take refuge in another farther on; but thewolf-dogs were very close behind me--so close that I had despaired ofescaping them, when one of the creatures in the tree above swung downheadforemost, his tail looped about a great limb, and grasping mebeneath my armpits swung me in safety up among his fellows.

  There they fell to examining me with the utmost excitement andcuriosity. They picked at my clothing, my hair, and my flesh. Theyturned me about to see if I had a tail, and when they discovered that Iwas not so equipped they fell into roars of laughter. Their teeth werevery large and white and even, except for the upper canines which werea trif
le longer than the others--protruding just a bit when the mouthwas closed.

  When they had examined me for a few moments one of them discovered thatmy clothing was not a part of me, with the result that garment bygarment they tore it from me amidst peals of the wildest laughter.Apelike, they essayed to don the apparel themselves, but theiringenuity was not sufficient to the task and so they gave it up.

  In the meantime I had been straining my eyes to catch a glimpse ofPerry, but nowhere about could I see him, although the clump of treesin which he had first taken refuge was in full view. I was muchexercised by fear that something had befallen him, and though I calledhis name aloud several times there was no response.

  Tired at last of playing with my clothing the creatures threw it to theground, and catching me, one on either side, by an arm, started off ata most terrifying pace through the tree tops. Never have I experiencedsuch a journey before or since--even now I oftentimes awake from a deepsleep haunted by the horrid remembrance of that awful experience.

  From tree to tree the agile creatures sprang like flying squirrels,while the cold sweat stood upon my brow as I glimpsed the depthsbeneath, into which a single misstep on the part of either of mybearers would hurl me. As they bore me along, my mind was occupiedwith a thousand bewildering thoughts. What had become of Perry? WouldI ever see him again? What were the intentions of these half-humanthings into whose hands I had fallen? Were they inhabitants of thesame world into which I had been born? No! It could not be. But yetwhere else? I had not left that earth--of that I was sure. Stillneither could I reconcile the things which I had seen to a belief thatI was still in the world of my birth. With a sigh I gave it up.