said with the conscious superiority of one who had, with his people, so recently emerged from the stone age that he often instinctively grasped a pistol by the muzzle and used it as a war club in sudden emergencies when at close quarters.
'Perhaps they will not be unfriendly,' suggested Stellara.
Tanar laughed. 'Then they are not of Pellucidar,' he said, 'but of some wondrous country inhabited by what Perry calls angels.'
'Who is Perry?' she demanded. 'I never heard of him.'
'He is a madman who says that Pellucidar is the inside of a hollow stone that is as round as the strange world that hangs forever above the Land of Awful Shadow, and that upon the outside are seas and mountains and plains and countless people and a great country from which he comes.'
'He must be quite mad,' said the girl.
'Yet he and David, our Emperor, have brought us many advantages that were before unknown in Pellucidar, so that now we can kill more warriors in a single battle than was possible before during the course of a whole war. Perry calls this civilization and it is indeed a very wonderful thing.'
'Perhaps he came from the frozen world from which the ancestors of the Korsars came,' suggested the girl. 'They say that the country lies outside of Pellucidar.'
'Here is the enemy,' said Tanar. 'Shall I fire at that big fellow standing in the bow of the first canoe?' Tanar raised one of the heavy pistols and took aim, but the girl laid a hand upon his arm.
'Wait,' she begged. 'They may be friendly. Do not fire unless you must—I hate killing.'
'I can well believe that you are no Korsar,' he said, lowering the muzzle of his weapon.
There came a hail from the leading canoe. 'We are prepared for you, Korsars,' shouted the tall warrior standing in the bow. 'You are few in numbers. We are many. Your great canoe is a useless wreck; ours are manned by twenty warriors each. You are helpless. We are strong. It is not always thus and this time it is not we who shall be taken prisoners, but you, if you attempt to land.
'But we are not like you, Korsars. We do not want to kill or capture. Go away and we shall not harm you.'
'We cannot go away,' replied Tanar. 'Our ship is helpless. We are only two and our food and water are nearly exhausted. Let us land and remain until we can prepare to return to our own countries.'
The warrior turned and conversed with the others in his canoe. Presently he faced Tanar again.
'No,' he said; 'my people will not permit Korsars to come among us. They do not trust you. Neither do I. If you do not go away we shall take you as prisoners and your fate will be in the hands of the Council of the Chiefs.'
'But we are not Korsars,' explained Tanar.
The warrior laughed. 'You speak a lie,' he said. 'Do you think that we do not know the ships of Korsar?'
'This is a Korsar ship,' replied Tanar; 'but we are not Korsars. We were prisoners and when they abandoned their ship in a great storm they left us aboard.'
Again the warriors conferred and those in other canoes that had drawn alongside the first joined in the discussion. 'Who are you then?' demanded the spokesman. 'I am Tanar of Pellucidar. My father is King of Sari.'
'We are all of Pellucidar,' replied the warrior; 'but we never heard of a country called Sari. And the woman —she is your mate?'
'No!' cried Stellara, haughtily. 'I am not his mate.'
'Who are you? Are you a Sarian, also?'
'I am no Sarian. My father and mother were of Amiocap.'
Again the warriors talked among themselves, some seeming to favor one idea, some another.
'Do you know the name of this country?' finally demanded the leading warrior, addressing Stellara.
'No,' she replied.
'We were about to ask you that very question,' said Tanar.
'And the woman is from Amiocap?' demanded the warrior.
'No other blood flows in my veins,' said Stellara, proudly.
'Then it is strange that you do not recognize your own land and your own people,' cried the warrior. 'This is the island of Amiocap !'
Stellara voiced a low cry of pleased astonishment. 'Amiocap!' she breathed softly, as to herself. The tone was a caress, but the warriors in the canoes were too far away to hear her. They thought she was silent and embarrassed because they had discovered her deception.
'Go away!' they cried again.
'You will not send me away from the land of my parents!' cried Stellara, in astonishment.
'You have lied to us,' replied the tall warrior. 'You are not of Amiocap. You do not know us, nor do we know you.'
'Listen!' cried Tanar. 'I was a prisoner aboard this ship and, being no Korsar, the girl told me her story long before we sighted this land. She could not have known that we were near your island. I do not know that she even knew its location, but nevertheless I believe that her story is true.
'She has never said that she was from Amiocap, but that her parents were. She has never seen the island before now. Her mother was stolen by the Korsars before she was born.'
Again the warriors spoke together in low tones for a moment and then, once more, the spokesman addressed Stellara. 'What was your mother's name?' he demanded. 'Who was your father?'
'My mother was called Allara,' replied the girl. 'I never saw my father, but my mother said that he was a chief and a great tandor hunter, called Fedol.'
At a word from the tall warrior in the bow of the leading canoe from the warriors paddled slowly nearer the drifting hulk, and as they approached the ship's waist Tanar and Stellara descended to the main deck, which was now almost awash, so deep the ship rode because of the water in her hold, and as the canoe drifted alongside, the warriors, with the exception of a couple, laid down their paddles and stood ready with their bone-tipped spears.
Now the two upon the ship's deck and the tall warrior in the canoe stood almost upon the same level and face to face. The latter was a smooth-faced man with finely molded features and clear, gray eyes that bespoke intelligence and courage. He was gazing intently at Stellara, as though he would search her very soul for proof of the veracity or falsity of her statements. Presently he spoke. 'You might well be her daughter,' he said; 'the resemblance is apparent.'
'You knew my mother?' exclaimed Stellara.
'I am Vulhan. You have heard her speak of me?'
'My mother's brother!' exclaimed Stellara, with deep emotion, but there was no answering emotion in the manner of the Amiocap warrior. 'My father, where is he? Is he alive?'
'That is the question,' said Vulhan, seriously. 'Who is your father! Your mother was stolen by a Korsar. If the Korsar is your father, you are a Korsar.'
'But he is not my father. Take me to my own father—although he has never seen me he will know me and I shall know him.'
'It will do no harm,' said a warrior who stood close to Vulhan. 'If the girl is a Korsar we shall know what to do with her.'
'If she is the spawn of the Korsar who stole Allara, Vulhan and Fedol will know how to treat her,' said Vulhan savagely.
'I am not afraid,' said Stellara.
'And this other,' said Vulhan, nodding toward Tanar. 'What of him?'
'He was a prisoner of war that the Korsars were taking back to Korsar. Let him come with you. His people are not sea people. He could not survive by the sea alone.'
'You are sure that he is no Korsar?' demanded Vulhan.
'Look at him!' exclaimed the girl. 'The men of Amiocap must know the people of Korsar well by sight. Does this one look like a Korsar?'
Vulhan was forced to admit that he did not. 'Very well,' he said, 'he may come with us, but whatever your
