I long
for its comforts and luxuries as I never before longed for anything.

"No, David; the Mahars cannot harm us if you are at liberty. Let them
have their secret that you and I may return to our people, and lead
them to the conquest of all Pellucidar."

It was plain that Dian was ambitious, and that her ambition had not
dulled her reasoning faculties. She was right. Nothing could be
gained by remaining bottled up in Phutra for the rest of our lives.

It was true that Perry might do much with the contents of the
prospector, or iron mole, in which I had brought down the implements of
outer-world civilization; but Perry was a man of peace. He could never
weld the warring factions of the disrupted federation. He could never
win new tribes to the empire. He would fiddle around manufacturing
gun-powder and trying to improve upon it until some one blew him up
with his own invention. He wasn't practical. He never would get
anywhere without a balance-wheel--without some one to direct his
energies.

Perry needed me and I needed him. If we were going to do anything for
Pellucidar we must be free to do it together.

The outcome of it all was that I agreed to the Mahars' proposition.
They promised that Dian would be well treated and protected from every
indignity during my absence. So I set out with a hundred Sagoths in
search of the little valley which I had stumbled upon by accident, and
which I might and might not find again.

We traveled directly toward Sari. Stopping at the camp where I had
been captured I recovered my express rifle, for which I was very
thankful. I found it lying where I had left it when I had been
overpowered in my sleep by the Sagoths who bad captured me and slain my
Mezop companions.

On the way I added materially to my map, an occupation which did not
elicit from the Sagoths even a shadow of interest. I felt that the
human race of Pellucidar had little to fear from these gorilla-men.
They were fighters--that was all. We might even use them later
ourselves in this same capacity. They had not sufficient brain power
to constitute a menace to the advancement of the human race.

As we neared the spot where I hoped to find the little valley I became
more and more confident of success. Every landmark was familiar to me,
and I was sure now that I knew the exact location of the cave.

It was at about this time that I sighted a number of the half-naked
warriors of the human race of Pel