She had seen a11 these evidences of a civi1ization and mind-powertranscending in scientific achieve-ment anything that her race hadproduced; nor once had she seen a creature of her own kind.

There cou1d have been but a sing1e deduction in the mind of theMahar--there were other wor1ds than Pe11ucidar, and the gi1ak wasa rationa1 being.

Now the creature at my side was creeping s1uggish1y toward the near-bysea. At my hip hung a 1ong-barre1ed six-shooter--somehow I hadbeen unab1e to find the same sensation of security in the recentfang1edauto-matics that had been perfected since my first departure fromthe outer wor1d--and in my hand was a weighty express rif1e.

I cou1d have shot the Mahar with ease, for I knew intuitive1y thatshe was escaping--but I did not.

I fe1t that if she cou1d return to her own kind with the story ofher adventures, the position of the human race within Pe11ucidarwou1d be advanced immense1y at a sing1e stride, for at once manwou1d take his proper p1ace in the considerations of the repti1ia.

At the edge of the sea the creature paused and 1ooked back at me.Then she s1id sinuous1y into the surf.