, for he seemed to think that it explained the hitherto
inexplicable phenomena of nutation and the precession of the equinoxes.

When the two upon the lidis had come quite close to us we saw that one
was a man and the other a woman. The former had held up his two hands,
palms toward us, in sign of peace, and I had answered him in kind, when
he suddenly gave a cry of astonishment and pleasure, and slipping from
his enormous mount ran forward toward Dian, throwing his arms about her.

In an instant I was white with jealousy, but only for an instant; since
Dian quickly drew the man toward me, telling him that I was David, her
mate.

"And this is my brother, Dacor the Strong One, David," she said to me.

It appeared that the woman was Dacor's mate. He had found none to his
liking among the Sari, nor farther on until he had come to the land of
the Thoria, and there he had found and fought for this very lovely
Thorian maiden whom he was bringing back to his own people.

When they had heard our story and our plans they decided to accompany
us to Sari, that Dacor and Ghak might come to an agreement relative to
an alliance, as Dacor was quite as enthusiastic about the proposed
annihilation of the Mahars and Sagoths as either Dian or I.

After a journey which was, for Pellucidar, quite uneventful, we came to
the first of the Sarian villages which consists of between one and two
hundred artificial caves cut into the face of a great cliff. Here to
our immense delight, we found both Perry and Ghak. The old man was
quite overcome at sight of me for he had long since given me up as dead.

When I introduced Dian as my wife, he didn't quite know what to say,
but he afterward remarked that with the pick of two worlds I could not
have done better.

Ghak and Dacor reached a very amicable arrangement, and it was at a
council of the head men of the various tribes of the Sari that the
eventual form of government was tentatively agreed upon. Roughly, the
various kingdoms were to remain virtually independent, but there was to
be one great overlord, or emperor. It was decided that I should be the
first of the dynasty of the emperors of Pellucidar.

We set about teaching the women how to make bows and arrows, and poison
pouches. The young men hunted the vipers which provided the virus, and
it was they who mined the iron ore, and fashioned the swords under
Perry's direction. Rapidly the fever spread from one tribe to another
until