“Do not interrupt him,” I said.  “He is a very holy man in the world from which we come.  He is speaking to spirits which you cannot see—­do not interrupt him or they will spring out of the air upon you and rend you limb from limb—­like that,” and I jumped toward the great brute with a loud “Boo!” that sent him stumbling backward.

I took a long chance, I realized, but if we could make any capital out of Perry’s harmless mania I wanted to make it while the making was prime.  It worked splendidly.  The Sagoths treated us both with marked respect during the balance of the journey, and then passed the word along to their masters, the Mahars.

Two marches after this episode we came to the city of Phutra.  The entrance to it was marked by two lofty towers of granite, which guarded a flight of steps leading to the buried city.  Sagoths were on guard here as well as at a hundred or more other towers scattered about over a large plain.

V

SLAVES

As we descended the broad Staircase which led to the main avenue of Phutra I caught my first sight of the dominant race of the inner world.  Involuntarily I shrank back as one of the creatures approached to inspect us.  A more hideous thing it would be impossible to imagine.  The all-powerful Mahars of Pellucidar are great reptiles, some six or eight feet in length, with long narrow heads and great round eyes.  Their beak-like mouths are lined with sharp, white fangs, and the backs of their huge, lizard bodies are serrated into bony ridges from their necks to the end of their long tails.  Their feet are equipped with three webbed toes, while from the fore feet membranous wings, which are attached to their bodies just in front of the hind legs, protrude at an angle of 45 degrees toward the rear, ending in sharp points several feet above their bodies.

I glanced at Perry as the thing passed me to inspect him.  The old man was gazing at the horrid creature with wide astonished eyes.  When it passed on, he turned to me.

“A rhamphorhynchus of the Middle Olitic, David,” he said, “but, gad, how enormous!  The largest remains we ever have discovered have never indicated a size greater than that attained by an ordinary crow.”

As we continued on through the main avenue of Phutra we saw many thousand of the creatures coming and going upon their daily duties.  They paid but little attention to us.  Phutra is laid out underground with a regularity that indicates remarkable engineering skill.  It is hewn from solid limestone strata.  The streets are broad and of a uniform height of twenty feet.  At intervals tubes pierce the roof of this underground city, and by means of lenses and reflectors transmit the sunlight, softened and diffused, to dispel what would otherwise be Cimmerian darkness.  In like manner air is introduced.