Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tanar of Pellucidar Edgar Rice Burroughs

THE great ship trembled to the recoil of the cannon; the rattle of musketry. The roar of the guns aboard her sister ships and the roar of her own were deafening. Below decks the air was acrid with the fumes of burnt powder. Tanar of Pellucidar, chained below with other prisoners, heard these sounds and smelled the smoke. He heard the rattle of the anchor chain; he felt the straining of the mast to which his shackles were bent and the altered motion of the hull told him that the ship was under way. Presently the firing ceased and the regular rising and falling of the ship betokened that it was on its course. In the darkness of the hold Tanar could see nothing. Sometimes the prisoners spoke to one another, but their thoughts were not happy ones, and so, for the most part, they remained silent-waiting. For what?They grew very hungry and very thirsty. By this they knew that the ship was far at sea. They knew nothing of time. They only knew that they were hungry and thirsty and that the ship should be far at sea-far out upon an unknown sea, setting its course for an unknown port. Presently a hatch was raised and men came with food and water-poor, rough food and water that smelled badly and tasted worse; but it was water and they were thirsty. One of the men said: "Where is he who is called Tanar?"