A single glance assured me it
was the very thing that Perry had described to me.
And as I grasped it did I think of what it meant to the human race
of Pellucidar--did there flash through my mind the thought that
countless generations of my own kind yet unborn would have reason
to worship me for the thing that I had accomplished for them? I
did not. I thought of a beautiful oval face, gazing out of limpid
eyes, through a waving mass of jet-black hair. I thought of red, red
lips, God-made for kissing. And of a sudden, apropos of nothing,
standing there alone in the secret chamber of the Mahars of
Pellucidar, I realized that I loved Dian the Beautiful.
XII
PURSUIT
FOR AN INSTANT I STOOD THERE THINKING OF HER, and then, with a
sigh, I tucked the book in the thong that supported my loin cloth,
and turned to leave the apartment. At the bottom of the corridor
which leads aloft from the lower chambers I whistled in accordance
with the prearranged signal which was to announce to Perry and Ghak
that I had been successful. A moment later they stood beside me,
and to my surprise I saw that Hooja the Sly One accompanied them.
"He joined us," explained Perry, "and would not be denied. The
fellow is a fox. He scents escape, and rather than be thwarted of
our chance now I told him that I would bring him to you, and let
you decide whether he might accompany us."
I had no love for Hooja, and no confidence in him. I was sure
that if he thought it would profit him he would betray us; but I
saw no way out of it now, and the fact that I had killed four Mahars
instead of only the three I had expected to, made it possible to
include the fellow in our scheme of escape.
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