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 pierc