While attempting to escape from the forbidden section of Pal-ul-don, Korak and his two Waz-don friends are chased into a canyon maze by a wild bull. There they are separated, and Korak comes up against a giant spider, which moves so fast that it soon has him wound up in web. Instead of eating him, however, it carries him to a lost valley where a race of seven-foot men, called Tukliks, enslave all outsiders (the reason no one has returned from the forbidden land.) They pass overseers working slaves in the fields, and Korak is taken to work in the quarries. One man attempts to escape by climbing the cliffs, but a trained spider overtakes him and he leaps to his death to escape. Korak befriends a slave who tells him further horror stories. At the dinner feeding trough, Korak meets Pan-at-lee and Om-at, who were also captured by the spiders. That night Korak manages to climb up Om-at's back and leap over the fence just after the guard passes by. He jumps the guard and takes his clothes, spraying himself with the special scent that causes the spider to recognize him as a master. He then frees all hundred or so of the slaves in his pen. Before they can get away the other Tukliks emerge from their dwellings and pursue them with the spiders. The slaves make a run for it, and eventually they make it to the cliffs at the border of the forbidden land. As they rapidly descend the cliff, the Tukliks hurl a rain of javelins and stones upon them, taking a terrible toll. In addition, a maddened gryf attacks them as they reach the ground inside Pal-ul-don. Om-at is knocked out by a Tuklik rock. Korak is able to tame the gryf with the technique Tarzan taught him, and the three ride the gryf back to Kor-ul-ja, where the Waz-don meet them jubilantly, in awe of Korak who can tame such as monster.
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