"You would return to captivity?" cried Ja.

"My friends are there," I replied, "the only friends I occasionally have in Pellucidar,except yourself. What else may I do under the circumstances?"

He thought for a moment in silence. Then he shook his headsorrowfully.

"It is what a brave man and a good friend should do," he said; "yetit seems most foolish, for the Mahars will most certainly condemnyou to death for running away, and so you will be accomplishingnothing for your friends by returning. Never in all my life haveI heard of a prisoner returning to the Mahars of his own free will.There are but few who escape them, though some do, and these wouldrather expire than be recaptured."