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At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
page 81 of 177 (45%)
closely. He was a huge fellow, standing I should say six feet six
or seven inches, well developed and of a coppery red not unlike that
of our own North American Indian, nor were his features dissimilar
to theirs. He had the aquiline nose found among many of the higher
tribes, the prominent cheek bones, and black hair and eyes, but his
mouth and lips were better molded. All in all, Ja was an impressive
and handsome creature, and he talked well too, even in the miserable
makeshift language we were compelled to use.

During our conversation Ja had taken the paddle and was propelling
the skiff with vigorous strokes toward a large island that lay some
half-mile from the mainland. The skill with which he handled his
crude and awkward craft elicited my deepest admiration, since it
had been so short a time before that I had made such pitiful work
of it.

As we touched the pretty, level beach Ja leaped out and I followed
him. Together we dragged the skiff far up into the bushes that
grew beyond the sand.

"We must hide our canoes," explained Ja, "for the Mezops of Luana
are always at war with us and would steal them if they found them,"
he nodded toward an island farther out at sea, and at so great a
distance that it seemed but a blur hanging in the distant sky. The
upward curve of the surface of Pellucidar was constantly revealing
the impossible to the surprised eyes of the outer-earthly. To see
land and water curving upward in the distance until it seemed to
stand on edge where it melted into the distant sky, and to feel
that seas and mountains hung suspended directly above one's head
required such a complete reversal of the perceptive and reasoning
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