come, except that I had not foreseen that you
would be there to save me."

We rested in our camp until Perry had regained sufficient strength to
travel again. We planned much, rebuilding all our shattered
air-castles; but above all we planned most to find Dian.

I could not believe that she was dead, yet where she might be in this
savage world, and under what frightful conditions she might be living,
I could not guess.

When Perry was rested we returned to the prospector, where he fitted
himself out fully like a civilized human being--under-clothing, socks,
shoes, khaki jacket and breeches and good, substantial puttees.

When I had come upon him he was clothed in rough sadak sandals, a
gee-string and a tunic fashioned from the shaggy hide of a thag. Now
he wore real clothing again for the first time since the ape-folk had
stripped us of our apparel that long-gone day that had witnessed our
advent within Pellucidar.

With a bandoleer of cartridges across his shoulder, two six-shooters at
his hips, and a rifle in his hand he was a much rejuvenated Perry.

Indeed he was quite a different person altogether from the rather shaky
old man who had entered the prospector with me ten or eleven years
before, for the trial trip that had plunged us into such wondrous
adventures and into such a strange and hitherto un-dreamed-of-world.

Now he was straight and active. His muscles, almost atrophied from
disuse in his former life, had filled out.

He was still an old man of course, but instead of appearing ten years
older than he really was, as he had when we left the outer world, he
now appeared about ten years younger. The wild, free life of
Pellucidar had worked wonders for him.

Well, it must need have done so or killed him, for a man of Perry's
former physical condition could not long have survived the dangers and
rigors of the primi-tive life of the inner world.

Perry had been greatly interested in my map and in the "royal
observatory" at Greenwich. By use of the pedometers we had retraced
our way to the prospector with ease and accuracy.

Now that we were ready to set out again we decided to follow a
different route on the chance that it might lead us into more familiar
territory.

I shall not weary you with a repetition of the count-less adventures of
our long search. Encounters with wild beasts of gigantic size were of
almost daily occurrence; but with our deadly express rifles we ran
comparatively little