I was again at the mercy of the baffling timelessness of Pellucidar,

forging steadily ahead beneath the great, motionless sun which

hangs eternally at noon.

I ate many times, however, so that days must have elapsed, possibly

months with no familiar landscape rewarding my eager eyes.

I saw no men nor signs of men. Nor is this strange, for Pellucidar,

in its land area, is immense, while the human race there is very

young and consequently far from numerous.

Doubtless upon that long search mine was the first human foot to

touch the soil in many places--mine the first human eye to rest

upon the gorgeous wonders of the landscape.

It was a staggering thought. I could not but dwell upon it often

as I made my lonely way through this virgin world. Then, quite

suddenly, one day I stepped out of the peace of manless primality

into the presence of man--and peace was gone.

It happened thus:

I had been following a ravine downward out of a chain of lofty hills

and had paused at its mouth to view the lovely little valley that

lay before me. At one side was tangled wood, while straight ahead

a river wound peacefully along parallel to the cliffs in which the

hills terminated at the valley's edge.

Presently, as I stood enjoying the lovely scene, as insatiate for

Nature's wonders as if I had not looked upon similar landscapes

countless times, a sound of shouting broke from the direction of

the woods. That the harsh, discordant notes rose from the throats

of men I could not doubt.

I slipped behind a large boulder near the mouth of the ravine and

waited. I could hear the crashing of underbrush in the forest,

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