At the Earth’s Core · Chapters
Chapters explained
Chapter companions for At the Earth’s Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Each chapter has a companion in the reader — open a free preview to see notes beside the text.
Chapter 1
Prologue
The narrator introduces the incredulous tale of a man he met in the Sahara, who claims to have spent ten years in a hidden inner world. The man's sincerity and a strange creature he brought back convince the narrator of the story's truth.
Chapter 2
I: Toward the Eternal Fires
David Innes recounts his early life and his partnership with the inventor Abner Perry to build a mechanical subterranean prospector, the 'Iron Mole.' They embark on a test voyage into the earth, facing extreme temperatures, ammonia fumes, and an ice stratum, before nearly suffocating from depleted air. The craft eventually stops, and Innes realizes they have turned upward and are safe, though he loses consciousness.
Chapter 3
A Strange World
David Innes regains consciousness after a brief blackout and revives Abner Perry. They discover that the Iron Mole has surfaced in a bizarre, alien landscape with a motionless, oversized sun and no horizon. After exploring the coast, they are attacked by a massive, bear-like creature, forcing them to climb trees for safety. Perry's initial attempt to climb fails, but David helps him, and they both escape into the branches, though the beast begins to bend the tree to reach them.
Chapter 4
A Change of Masters
David Innes and Abner Perry are captured by ape-like creatures and brought to a tree village. After being reunited, Perry reveals that they have traveled to the inner world of Pellucidar, where a stationary sun creates eternal noon. They are then taken by gorilla-like men and chained alongside noble human prisoners, enduring a seemingly endless march across a sunbaked plain.
Chapter 5
IV: Dian the Beautiful
David Innes and Abner Perry continue their forced march as captives of the Sagoths. David learns the language of his fellow prisoners from a young woman named Dian the Beautiful, who tells him she is fleeing from Jubal the Ugly One. She describes the Mahars as the ruling race of Pellucidar and explains that the Sagoths are their servants. David inadvertently offends Dian by touching her, but Ghak reveals that Dian is his niece, the daughter of kings. Hooja the Sly One makes unwanted advances toward Dian. The group passes a salt sea filled with prehistoric reptiles, and Perry identifies them as Plesiosaurs and Ichthyosaurs. David uses Perry's praying as a ruse to intimidate the Sagoths, gaining them respect. They finally arrive at the buried city of Phutra.
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