If time was hard to measure in the Arctic, in the tunnel between worlds time was absolutely elastic. Zartan had no sense of how much time they spent in the gloom. It may have been a minute, or a month. He felt as if he'd indeed found Sheol, as Bo had promised he might, for it was so dark and cold that he lost all leave of his senses and found himself unable to separate wake from sleep, and later he could remember very little of those dreadful hours. He knew only that eventually there was a faint light in the distance, and a gust of warm air soon after. The dogs now ran as if their lives depended on it. Bo told him later that they did not need to drive the jaloks at all, but they were driven to and through the tunnel by an incredible homing instinct common to all the people and creatures of Pellucidar.
The light brightened and the air warmed until it was bright enough to see that they were no longer on snow at all, but carried across mossy stones. The dogs beat, carrying them in widening circles until they exited the portal between worlds and found themselves in Pellucidar.
The sight of it was stunning to all of the men, for it was as the exact opposite of the land they'd left -- warm, and green, and abundant with life. Zartan had expected to see a landscape similar to the snowy one at the other end of the tunnel, but it was as if they'd emerged in the Bermudas.
They disrobed quickly, for all of them were now sweltering in the furs they'd worn before. A few were so excited to see the sandy beach and lush jungle, they undressed nearly entirely and ran to the sea, where they splashed another and joked about. This fun ended quickly when one of the men, who had paddled out further than the rest, let out a cry. By the time anyone could look, he had vanished, and his end may have been a mystery if a long-necked sea monster hadn't broken the surface and roared cheerfully, as if to boast, before disappearing again beneath the murky surface. The men all hastened back to the shore, while Cee and one of the other Kosar captains laughed mightily.
"It's hard lessons, ye outerlings be learning," Bo said to Zartan. Zartan was inclined to agree, but suddenly realized he had lost track of his feathery companion, Bob. He scanned the tree tops and saw Bob disappearing into the distance.
END OF PART 1
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