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—HYAENODON 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.
