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 heavil