Chapter 2
When bradley went on guard at midnight, September 14th, his
thoughts were largely occupied with rejoicing that the night
was almost spent without serious mishap and that the morrow
would doubtless see them all safely returned to Fort Dinosaur.
The hopefulness of his mood was tinged with sorrow by recollection
of the two members of his party who lay back there in the savage
wilderness and for whom there would never again be a homecoming.
No premonition of impending ill cast gloom over his anticipations
for the coming day, for Bradley was a man who, while taking every
precaution against possible danger, permitted no gloomy
forebodings to weigh down his spirit. When danger threatened, he
was prepared; but he was not forever courting disaster, and so it
was that when about one o'clock in the morning of the fifteenth,
he heard the dismal flapping of giant wings overhead, he was
neither surprised nor frightened but idly prepared for an attack
he had known might reasonably be expected.
The sound seemed to come from the south, and presently, low above
the trees in that direction, the man made out a dim, shadowy form
circling slowly about. Bradley was a brave man, yet so keen was
the feeling of revulsion engendered by the sight and sound of
that grim, uncanny shape that he distinctly felt the gooseflesh
rise over the surface of his body, and it was with difficulty
that he refrained from following an instinctive urge to fire upon
the nocturnal intruder. Better, far better would it have been
had he given in to the insistent demand of his subconscious
mentor; but his almost fanatical obsession to save ammunition
proved now his undoing, for while his attention was riveted upon
the thing circling before him and while his ears were filled with
the beating of its wings, there swooped silently out of the black
night behind him another weird and ghostly shape. With its huge
wings partly closed for the dive and its white robe fluttering in
its wake, the apparition swooped down upon the Englishman.
So great was the force of the impact when the thing struck
Bradley between the shoulders that the man was half stunned.
His rifle flew from his grasp; he felt clawlike talons of great
strength seize him beneath his arms and sweep him off his feet;
and then the thing rose swiftly with him, so swiftly that his cap
was blown from his head by the rush of air as he was borne
rapidly upward into the inky sky and the cry of warning to his
companions was forced back into his lungs.
The creature wheeled immediately toward the east and was at once
joined by its fellow, who circled them once and then fell in
behind them. Bradley now realized the strategy that the pair
had used to capture him and at once concluded that he was in the
power of reasoning beings closely related to the human race if
not actually of it.
Past experience suggested that the great wings were a part of
some ingenious mechanical device, for the limitations of the
human mind, which is always loath to accept aught beyond its own
little experience, would not permit him to entertain the idea
that the creatures might be naturally winged and at the same time
of human origin. From his position Bradley could not see the
wings of his captor, nor in the darkness had he been able to
examine those of the second creature closely when it circled
before him. He listened for the puff of a motor or some other
telltale sound that would prove the correctness of his theory.
However, he was rewarded with nothing more than the constant
flap-flap.
Presently, far below and ahead, he saw the waters of the inland
sea, and a moment later he was borne over them. Then his captor
did that which proved beyond doubt to Bradley that he was in the
hands of human beings who had devised an almost perfect scheme of
duplicating, mechanically, the wings of a bird--the thing spoke
to its companion and in a language that Bradley partially
understood, since he recognized words that he had learned from
the savage races of Caspak. From this he judged that they were
human, and being human, he knew that they could have no natural
wings--for who had ever seen a human being so adorned!
Therefore their wings must be mechanical. Thus Bradley reasoned--
thus most of us reason; not by what might be possible; but by what
has fallen within the range of our experience.
What he heard them say was to the effect that having covered
half the distance the burden would now be transferred from one
to the other. Bradley wondered how the exchange was to
be accomplished. He knew that those giant wings would not
permit the creatures to approach one another closely enough
to effect the transfer in this manner; but he was soon to
discover that they had other means of doing it.
He felt the thing that carried him rise to a greater altitude,
and below he glimpsed momentarily the second white-robed figure;
then the creature above sounded a low call, it was answered from
below, and instantly Bradley felt the clutching talons release
him; gasping for breath, he hurtled downward through space.
For a terrifying instant, pregnant with horror, Bradley fell;
then something swooped for him from behind, another pair of
talons clutched him beneath the arms, his downward rush was
checked, within another hundred feet, and close to the surface
of the sea he was again borne upward. As a hawk dives for a
songbird on the wing, so this great, human bird dived for Bradley.
It was a harrowing experience, but soon over, and once again
the captive was being carried swiftly toward the east and what
fate he could not even guess.
It was immediately following his transfer in mid-air that Bradley
made out the shadowy form of a large island far ahead, and not
long after, he realized that this must be the intended
destination of his captors. Nor was he mistaken. Three quarters
of an hour from the time of his seizure his captors dropped
gently to earth in the strangest city that human eye had ever
rested upon. Just a brief glimpse of his immediate surroundings
vouchsafed Bradley before he was whisked into the interior of one
of the buildings; but in that momentary glance he saw strange
piles of stone and wood and mud fashioned into buildings of all
conceivable sizes and shapes, sometimes piled high on top of one
another, sometimes standing alone in an open court-way, but
usually crowded and jammed together, so that there were no
streets or alleys between them other than a few which ended
almost as soon as they began. The principal doorways appeared to
be in the roofs, and it was through one of these that Bradley was
inducted into the dark interior of a low-ceiled room. Here he
was pushed roughly into a corner where he tripped over a thick
mat, and there his captors left him. He heard them moving about
in the darkness for a moment, and several times he saw their
large luminous eyes glowing in the dark. Finally, these
disappeared and silence reigned, broken only by the breathing of
the creature which indicated to the Englishman that they were
sleeping somewhere in the same apartment.
It was now evident that the mat upon the floor was intended for
sleeping purposes and that the rough shove that had sent him to
it had been a rude invitation to repose. After taking stock of
himself and finding that he still had his pistol and ammunition,
some matches, a little tobacco, a canteen full of water and a
razor, Bradley made himself comfortable upon the mat and was soon
asleep, knowing that an attempted escape in the darkness without
knowledge of his surroundings would be predoomed to failure.
When he awoke, it was broad daylight, and the sight that met his
eyes made him rub them again and again to assure himself that
they were really open and that he was not dreaming. A broad
shaft of morning light poured through the open doorway in the
ceiling of the room which was about thirty feet square, or
roughly square, being irregular in shape, one side curving
outward, another being indented by what might have been the
corner of another building jutting into it, another alcoved by
three sides of an octagon, while the fourth was serpentine
in contour. Two windows let in more daylight, while two doors
evidently gave ingress to other rooms. The walls were partially
ceiled with thin strips of wood, nicely fitted and finished,
partially plastered and the rest covered with a fine, woven cloth.
Figures of reptiles and beasts were painted without regard to
any uniform scheme here and there upon the walls. A striking
feature of the decorations consisted of several engaged columns
set into the walls at no regular intervals, the capitals of
each supporting a human skull the cranium of which touched the
ceiling, as though the latter was supported by these grim
reminders either of departed relatives or of some hideous tribal
rite--Bradley could not but wonder which.
Yet it was none of these things that filled him with greatest
wonder--no, it was the figures of the two creatures that had
captured him and brought him hither. At one end of the room a
stout pole about two inches in diameter ran horizontally from
wall to wall some six or seven feet from the floor, its ends
securely set in two of the columns. Hanging by their knees from
this perch, their heads downward and their bodies wrapped in
their huge wings, slept the creatures of the night before--like
two great, horrid bats they hung, asleep.
As Bradley gazed upon them in wide-eyed astonishment, he saw
plainly that all his intelligence, all his acquired knowledge
through years of observation and experience were set at naught by
the simple evidence of the fact that stood out glaringly before
his eyes--the creatures' wings were not mechanical devices but as
natural appendages, growing from their shoulderblades, as were
their arms and legs. He saw, too, that except for their wings
the pair bore a strong resemblance to human beings, though
fashioned in a most grotesque mold.
As he sat gazing at them, one of the two awoke, separated his
wings to release his arms that had been folded across his breast,
placed his hands upon the floor, dropped his feet and stood erect.
For a moment he stretched his great wings slowly, solemnly
blinking his large round eyes. Then his gaze fell upon Bradley.
The thin lips drew back tightly against yellow teeth in a grimace
that was nothing but hideous. It could not have been termed a
smile, and what emotion it registered the Englishman was at a
loss to guess. No expression whatever altered the steady gaze
of those large, round eyes; there was no color upon the pasty,
sunken cheeks. A death's head grimaced as though a man long
dead raised his parchment-covered skull from an old grave.
The creature stood about the height of an average man but
appeared much taller from the fact that the joints of his long
wings rose fully a foot above his hairless head. The bare arms
were long and sinewy, ending in strong, bony hands with clawlike
fingers--almost talonlike in their suggestiveness. The white
robe was separated in front, revealing skinny legs and the
further fact that the thing wore but the single garment, which
was of fine, woven cloth. From crown to sole the portions of
the body exposed were entirely hairless, and as he noted this,
Bradley also noted for the first time the cause of much of the
seeming expressionlessness of the creature's countenance--it had
neither eye-brows or lashes. The ears were small and rested flat
against the skull, which was noticeably round, though the face
was quite flat. The creature had small feet, beautifully arched
and plump, but so out of keeping with every other physical
attribute it possessed as to appear ridiculous.
After eyeing Bradley for a moment the thing approached him.
"Where from?" it asked.
"England," replied Bradley, as briefly.
"Where is England and what?" pursued the questioner.
"It is a country far from here," answered the Englishman.
"Are your people cor-sva-jo or cos-ata-lu?"
"I do not understand you," said Bradley; "and now suppose you
answer a few questions. Who are you? What country is this?
Why did you bring me here?"
Again the sepulchral grimace. "We are Wieroos--Luata is our father.
Caspak is ours. This, our country, is called Oo-oh. We brought
you here for (literally) Him Who Speaks for Luata to gaze upon
and question. He would know from whence you came and why; but
principally if you be cos-ata-lu."
"And if I am not cos--whatever you call the bloomin' beast--
what of it?"
The Wieroo raised his wings in a very human shrug and waved his
bony claws toward the human skulls supporting the ceiling.
His gesture was eloquent; but he embellished it by remarking,
"And possibly if you are."
"I'm hungry," snapped Bradley.
The Wieroo motioned him to one of the doors which he threw open,
permitting Bradley to pass out onto another roof on a level lower
than that upon which they had landed earlier in the morning.
By daylight the city appeared even more remarkable than in the
moonlight, though less weird and unreal. The houses of all
shapes and sizes were piled about as a child might pile blocks of
various forms and colors. He saw now that there were what might
be called streets or alleys, but they ran in baffling turns and
twists, nor ever reached a destination, always ending in a dead
wall where some Wieroo had built a house across them.
Upon each house was a slender column supporting a human skull.
Sometimes the columns were at one corner of the roof, sometimes
at another, or again they rose from the center or near the
center, and the columns were of varying heights, from that of
a man to those which rose twenty feet above their roofs.
The skulls were, as a rule, painted--blue or white, or in
combinations of both colors. The most effective were painted
blue with the teeth white and the eye-sockets rimmed with white.
There were other skulls--thousands of them--tens, hundreds
of thousands. They rimmed the eaves of every house, they were
set in the plaster of the outer walls and at no great distance
from where Bradley stood rose a round tower built entirely of
human skulls. And the city extended in every direction as far
as the Englishman could see.
All about him Wieroos were moving across the roofs or winging
through the air. The sad sound of their flapping wings rose and
fell like a solemn dirge. Most of them were appareled all in
white, like his captors; but others had markings of red or blue
or yellow slashed across the front of their robes.
His guide pointed toward a doorway in an alley below them.
"Go there and eat," he commanded, "and then come back.
You cannot escape. If any question you, say that you belong
to Fosh-bal-soj. There is the way." And this time he pointed
to the top of a ladder which protruded above the eaves of the
roof near-by. Then he turned and reentered the house.
Bradley looked about him. No, he could not escape--that
seemed evident. The city appeared interminable, and beyond the
city, if not a savage wilderness filled with wild beasts, there
was the broad inland sea infested with horrid monsters. No wonder
his captor felt safe in turning him loose in Oo-oh--he wondered if
that was the name of the country or the city and if there were
other cities like this upon the island.
Slowly he descended the ladder to the seemingly deserted alley
which was paved with what appeared to be large, round cobblestones.
He looked again at the smooth, worn pavement, and a rueful grin
crossed his features--the alley was paved with skulls. "The City
of Human Skulls," mused Bradley. "They must have been collectin'
'em since Adam," he thought, and then he crossed and entered the
building through the doorway that had been pointed out to him.
Inside he found a large room in which were many Wieroos seated
before pedestals the tops of which were hollowed out so that
they resembled the ordinary bird drinking- and bathing-fonts so
commonly seen on suburban lawns. A seat protruded from each of
the four sides of the pedestals--just a flat board with a support
running from its outer end diagonally to the base of the pedestal.
As Bradley entered, some of the Wieroos espied him, and a dismal
wail arose. Whether it was a greeting or a threat, Bradley did
not know. Suddenly from a dark alcove another Wieroo rushed out
toward him. "Who are you?" he cried. "What do you want?"
"Fosh-bal-soj sent me here to eat," replied Bradley.
"Do you belong to Fosh-bal-soj?" asked the other.
"That appears to be what he thinks," answered the Englishman.
"Are you cos-ata-lu?" demanded the Wieroo.
"Give me something to eat or I'll be all of that," replied Bradley.
The Wieroo looked puzzled. "Sit here, jaal-lu," he snapped,
and Bradley sat down unconscious of the fact that he had been
insulted by being called a hyena-man, an appellation of contempt
in Caspak.
The Wieroo had seated him at a pedestal by himself, and as he sat
waiting for what was next to transpire, he looked about him at
the Wieroo in his immediate vicinity. He saw that in each font
was a quantity of food, and that each Wieroo was armed with a
wooden skewer, sharpened at one end; with which they carried
solid portions of food to their mouths. At the other end of the
skewer was fastened a small clam-shell. This was used to scoop
up the smaller and softer portions of the repast into which all
four of the occupants of each table dipped impartially. The Wieroo
leaned far over their food, scooping it up rapidly and with much
noise, and so great was their haste that a part of each mouthful
always fell back into the common dish; and when they choked, by
reason of the rapidity with which they attempted to bolt their
food, they often lost it all. Bradley was glad that he had a
pedestal all to himself.
Soon the keeper of the place returned with a wooden bowl filled
with food. This he dumped into Bradley's "trough," as he already
thought of it. The Englishman was glad that he could not see
into the dark alcove or know what were all the ingredients that
constituted the mess before him, for he was very hungry.
After the first mouthful he cared even less to investigate the
antecedents of the dish, for he found it peculiarly palatable.
It seemed to consist of a combination of meat, fruits,
vegetables, small fish and other undistinguishable articles of
food all seasoned to produce a gastronomic effect that was at
once baffling and delicious.
When he had finished, his trough was empty, and then he commenced
to wonder who was to settle for his meal. As he waited for the
proprietor to return, he fell to examining the dish from which he
had eaten and the pedestal upon which it rested. The font was of
stone worn smooth by long-continued use, the four outer edges
hollowed and polished by the contact of the countless Wieroo
bodies that had leaned against them for how long a period of time
Bradley could not even guess. Everything about the place carried
the impression of hoary age. The carved pedestals were black
with use, the wooden seats were worn hollow, the floor of stone
slabs was polished by the contact of possibly millions of naked
feet and worn away in the aisles between the pedestals so that
the latter rested upon little mounds of stone several inches
above the general level of the floor.
Finally, seeing that no one came to collect, Bradley arose and
started for the doorway. He had covered half the distance when
he heard the voice of mine host calling to him: "Come back,
jaal-lu," screamed the Wieroo; and Bradley did as he was bid.
As he approached the creature which stood now behind a large,
flat-topped pedestal beside the alcove, he saw lying upon the
smooth surface something that almost elicited a gasp of
astonishment from him--a simple, common thing it was, or would
have been almost anywhere in the world but Caspak--a square bit
of paper!
And on it, in a fine hand, written compactly, were many strange
hieroglyphics! These remarkable creatures, then, had a written as
well as a spoken language and besides the art of weaving cloth
possessed that of paper-making. Could it be that such grotesque
beings represented the high culture of the human race within the
boundaries of Caspak? Had natural selection produced during the
countless ages of Caspakian life a winged monstrosity that
represented the earthly pinnacle of man's evolution?
Bradley had noted something of the obvious indications of a
gradual evolution from ape to spearman as exemplified by the
several overlapping races of Alalus, club-men and hatchet-men
that formed the connecting links between the two extremes with
which he, had come in contact. He had heard of the Krolus and
the Galus--reputed to be still higher in the plane of evolution--
and now he had indisputable evidence of a race possessing
refinements of civilization eons in advance of the spear-men.
The conjectures awakened by even a momentary consideration of the
possibilities involved became at once as wildly bizarre as the
insane imagings of a drug addict.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the Wieroo held out
a pen of bone fixed to a wooden holder and at the same time made
a sign that Bradley was to write upon the paper. It was
difficult to judge from the expressionless features of the Wieroo
what was passing in the creature's mind, but Bradley could not
but feel that the thing cast a supercilious glance upon him as
much as to say, "Of course you do not know how to write, you
poor, low creature; but you can make your mark."
Bradley seized the pen and in a clear, bold hand wrote: "John
Bradley, England." The Wieroo showed evidences of consternation
as it seized the piece of paper and examined the writing with
every mark of incredulity and surprise. Of course it could make
nothing of the strange characters; but it evidently accepted them
as proof that Bradley possessed knowledge of a written language
of his own, for following the Englishman's entry it made a few
characters of its own.
"You will come here again just before Lua hides his face behind
the great cliff," announced the creature, "unless before that you
are summoned by Him Who Speaks for Luata, in which case you will
not have to eat any more."
"Reassuring cuss," thought Bradley as he turned and left
the building.
Outside were several Wieroos that had been eating at the
pedestals within. They immediately surrounded him, asking all
sorts of questions, plucking at his garments, his ammunition-belt
and his pistol. Their demeanor was entirely different from what
it had been within the eating-place and Bradley was to learn that
a house of food was sanctuary for him, since the stern laws of
the Wieroos forbade altercations within such walls. Now they
were rough and threatening, as with wings half spread they
hovered about him in menacing attitudes, barring his way to the
ladder leading to the roof from whence he had descended; but the
Englishman was not one to brook interference for long. He attempted
at first to push his way past them, and then when one seized his
arm and jerked him roughly back, Bradley swung upon the creature
and with a heavy blow to the jaw felled it.
Instantly pandemonium reigned. Loud wails arose, great wings
opened and closed with a loud, beating noise and many clawlike
hands reached forth to clutch him. Bradley struck to right
and left. He dared not use his pistol for fear that once they
discovered its power he would be overcome by weight of numbers
and relieved of possession of what he considered his trump card,
to be reserved until the last moment that it might be used to aid
in his escape, for already the Englishman was planning, though
almost hopelessly, such an attempt.
A few blows convinced Bradley that the Wieroos were arrant
cowards and that they bore no weapons, for after two or three had
fallen beneath his fists the others formed a circle about him,
but at a safe distance and contented themselves with threatening
and blustering, while those whom he had felled lay upon the
pavement without trying to arise, the while they moaned and
wailed in lugubrious chorus.
Again Bradley strode toward the ladder, and this time the circle
parted before him; but no sooner had he ascended a few rungs than
he was seized by one foot and an effort made to drag him down.
With a quick backward glance the Englishman, clinging firmly to
the ladder with both hands, drew up his free foot and with all
the strength of a powerful leg, planted a heavy shoe squarely in
the flat face of the Wieroo that held him. Shrieking horribly,
the creature clapped both hands to its face and sank to the
ground while Bradley clambered quickly the remaining distance to
the roof, though no sooner did he reach the top of the ladder
than a great flapping of wings beneath him warned him that the
Wieroos were rising after him. A moment later they swarmed about
his head as he ran for the apartment in which he had spent the
early hours of the morning after his arrival.
It was but a short distance from the top of the ladder to the
doorway, and Bradley had almost reached his goal when the door
flew open and Fosh-bal-soj stepped out. Immediately the pursuing
Wieroos demanded punishment of the jaal-lu who had so
grievously maltreated them. Fosh-bal-soj listened to their
complaints and then with a sudden sweep of his right hand seized
Bradley by the scruff of the neck and hurled him sprawling
through the doorway upon the floor of the chamber.
So sudden was the assault and so surprising the strength of the
Wieroo that the Englishman was taken completely off his guard.
When he arose, the door was closed, and Fosh-bal-soj was standing
over him, his hideous face contorted into an expression of rage
and hatred.
"Hyena, snake, lizard!" he screamed. "You would dare lay your
low, vile, profaning hands upon even the lowliest of the Wieroos--
the sacred chosen of Luata!"
Bradley was mad, and so he spoke in a very low, calm voice while
a half-smile played across his lips but his cold, gray eyes
were unsmiling.
"What you did to me just now," he said, "--I am going to kill
you for that," and even as he spoke, he launched himself at the
throat of Fosh-bal-soj. The other Wieroo that had been asleep
when Bradley left the chamber had departed, and the two were alone.
Fosh-bal-soj displayed little of the cowardice of those that had
attacked Bradley in the alleyway, but that may have been because
he had so slight opportunity, for Bradley had him by the throat
before he could utter a cry and with his right hand struck him
heavily and repeatedly upon his face and over his heart--ugly,
smashing, short-arm jabs of the sort that take the fight out of
a man in quick time.
But Fosh-bal-soj was of no mind to die passively. He clawed and
struck at Bradley while with his great wings he attempted to
shield himself from the merciless rain of blows, at the same time
searching for a hold upon his antagonist's throat. Presently he
succeeded in tripping the Englishman, and together the two fell
heavily to the floor, Bradley underneath, and at the same instant
the Wieroo fastened his long talons about the other's windpipe.
Fosh-bal-soj was possessed of enormous strength and he was
fighting for his life. The Englishman soon realized that the
battle was going against him. Already his lungs were pounding
painfully for air as he reached for his pistol. It was with
difficulty that he drew it from its holster, and even then, with
death staring him in the face, he thought of his precious ammunition.
"Can't waste it," he thought; and slipping his fingers to the
barrel he raised the weapon and struck Fosh-bal-soj a terrific
blow between the eyes. Instantly the clawlike fingers released
their hold, and the creature sank limply to the floor beside
Bradley, who lay for several minutes gasping painfully in an
effort to regain his breath.
When he was able, he rose, and leaned close over the Wieroo,
lying silent and motionless, his wings dropping limply and his
great, round eyes staring blankly toward the ceiling. A brief
examination convinced Bradley that the thing was dead, and with
the conviction came an overwhelming sense of the dangers which
must now confront him; but how was he to escape?
His first thought was to find some means for concealing the
evidence of his deed and then to make a bold effort to escape.
Stepping to the second door he pushed it gently open and peered
in upon what seemed to be a store room. In it was a litter of
cloth such as the Wieroos' robes were fashioned from, a number
of chests painted blue and white, with white hieroglyphics
painted in bold strokes upon the blue and blue hieroglyphics upon
the white. In one corner was a pile of human skulls reaching
almost to the ceiling and in another a stack of dried Wieroo wings.
The chamber was as irregularly shaped as the other and had but a
single window and a second door at the further end, but was
without the exit through the roof and, most important of all,
there was no creature of any sort in it.
As quickly as possible Bradley dragged the dead Wieroo through
the doorway and closed the door; then he looked about for a place
to conceal the corpse. One of the chests was large enough to
hold the body if the knees were bent well up, and with this idea
in view Bradley approached the chest to open it. The lid was
made in two pieces, each being hinged at an opposite end of the
chest and joining nicely where they met in the center of the
chest, making a snug, well-fitting joint. There was no lock.
Bradley raised one half the cover and looked in. With a smothered
"By Jove!" he bent closer to examine the contents--the chest
was about half filled with an assortment of golden trinkets.
There were what appeared to be bracelets, anklets and brooches
of virgin gold.
Realizing that there was no room in the chest for the body of the
Wieroo, Bradley turned to seek another means of concealing the
evidence of his crime. There was a space between the chests and
the wall, and into this he forced the corpse, piling the
discarded robes upon it until it was entirely hidden from sight;
but now how was he to make good his escape in the bright glare of
that early Spring day?
He walked to the door at the far end of the apartment and
cautiously opened it an inch. Before him and about two feet away
was the blank wall of another building. Bradley opened the door
a little farther and looked in both directions. There was no one
in sight to the left over a considerable expanse of roof-top, and
to the right another building shut off his line of vision at
about twenty feet. Slipping out, he turned to the right and in
a few steps found a narrow passageway between two buildings.
Turning into this he passed about half its length when he saw a
Wieroo appear at the opposite end and halt. The creature was not
looking down the passageway; but at any moment it might turn its
eyes toward him, when he would be immediately discovered.
To Bradley's left was a triangular niche in the wall of one of
the houses and into this he dodged, thus concealing himself from
the sight of the Wieroo. Beside him was a door painted a vivid
yellow and constructed after the same fashion as the other Wieroo
doors he had seen, being made up of countless narrow strips of
wood from four to six inches in length laid on in patches of
about the same width, the strips in adjacent patches never
running in the same direction. The result bore some resemblance
to a crazy patchwork quilt, which was heightened when, as in one
of the doors he had seen, contiguous patches were painted
different colors. The strips appeared to have been bound
together and to the underlying framework of the door with gut or
fiber and also glued, after which a thick coating of paint had
been applied. One edge of the door was formed of a straight,
round pole about two inches in diameter that protruded at top and
bottom, the projections setting in round holes in both lintel and
sill forming the axis upon which the door swung. An eccentric
disk upon the inside face of the door engaged a slot in the frame
when it was desired to secure the door against intruders.
As Bradley stood flattened against the wall waiting for the
Wieroo to move on, he heard the creature's wings brushing against
the sides of the buildings as it made its way down the narrow
passage in his direction. As the yellow door offered the only
means of escape without detection, the Englishman decided to risk
whatever might lie beyond it, and so, boldly pushing it in, he
crossed the threshold and entered a small apartment.
As he did so, he heard a muffled ejaculation of surprise, and
turning his eyes in the direction from whence the sound had come,
he beheld a wide-eyed girl standing flattened against the
opposite wall, an expression of incredulity upon her face. At a
glance he saw that she was of no race of humans that he had come
in contact with since his arrival upon Caprona--there was no
trace about her form or features of any relationship to those low
orders of men, nor was she appareled as they--or, rather, she did
not entirely lack apparel as did most of them.
A soft hide fell from her left shoulder to just below her left
hip on one side and almost to her right knee on the other, a
loose girdle was about her waist, and golden ornaments such as he
had seen in the blue-and-white chest encircled her arms and legs,
while a golden fillet with a triangular diadem bound her heavy
hair above her brows. Her skin was white as from long confinement
within doors; but it was clear and fine. Her figure, but partially
concealed by the soft deerskin, was all curves of symmetry and
youthful grace, while her features might easily have been the envy
of the most feted of Continental beauties.
If the girl was surprised by the sudden appearance of Bradley,
the latter was absolutely astounded to discover so wondrous
a creature among the hideous inhabitants of the City of
Human Skulls. For a moment the two looked at one another in
unconcealed consternation, and then Bradley spoke, using to
the best of his poor ability, the common tongue of Caspak.
"Who are you," he asked, "and from where do you come? Do not tell
me that you are a Wieroo."
"No," she replied, "I am no Wieroo." And she shuddered slightly as
she pronounced the word. "I am a Galu; but who and what are you?
I am sure that you are no Galu, from your garments; but you are
like the Galus in other respects. I know that you are not of
this frightful city, for I have been here for almost ten moons,
and never have I seen a male Galu brought hither before, nor are
there such as you and I, other than prisoners in the land of
Oo-oh, and these are all females. Are you a prisoner, then?"
He told her briefly who and what he was, though he doubted if she
understood, and from her he learned that she had been a prisoner
there for many months; but for what purpose he did not then
learn, as in the midst of their conversation the yellow door
swung open and a Wieroo with a robe slashed with yellow entered.
At sight of Bradley the creature became furious. "Whence came
this reptile?" it demanded of the girl. "How long has it been
here with you?"
"It came through the doorway just ahead of you," Bradley answered
for the girl.
The Wieroo looked relieved. "It is well for the girl that
this is so," it said, "for now only you will have to die."
And stepping to the door the creature raised its voice in
one of those uncanny, depressing wails.
The Englishman looked toward the girl. "Shall I kill it?" he
asked, half drawing his pistol. "What is best to do?--I do not
wish to endanger you."
The Wieroo backed toward the door. "Defiler!" it screamed.
"You dare to threaten one of the sacred chosen of Luata!"
"Do not kill him," cried the girl, "for then there could be no
hope for you. That you are here, alive, shows that they may not
intend to kill you at all, and so there is a chance for you if
you do not anger them; but touch him in violence and your
bleached skull will top the loftiest pedestal of Oo-oh."
"And what of you?" asked Bradley.
"I am already doomed," replied the girl; "I am cos-ata-lo."
"Cos-ata-lo! cos-ata-lu!" What did these phrases mean that
they were so oft repeated by the denizens of Oo-oh? Lu and
lo, Bradley knew to mean man and woman; ata; was
employed variously to indicate life, eggs, young, reproduction
and kindred subject; cos was a negative; but in combination
they were meaningless to the European.
"Do you mean they will kill you?" asked Bradley.
"I but wish that they would," replied the girl. "My fate is to
be worse than death--in just a few nights more, with the coming
of the new moon."
"Poor she-snake!" snapped the Wieroo. "You are to become sacred
above all other shes. He Who Speaks for Luata has chosen you
for himself. Today you go to his temple--"the Wieroo used a
phrase meaning literally High Place--"where you will receive
the sacred commands."
The girl shuddered and cast a sorrowful glance toward Bradley.
"Ah," she sighed, "if I could but see my beloved country once again!"
The man stepped suddenly close to her side before the Wieroo
could interpose and in a low voice asked her if there was no
way by which he might encompass her escape. She shook her
head sorrowfully. "Even if we escaped the city," she replied,
"there is the big water between the island of Oo-oh and the
Galu shore."
"And what is beyond the city, if we could leave it?" pursued Bradley.
"I may only guess from what I have heard since I was brought
here," she answered; "but by reports and chance remarks I take it
to be a beautiful land in which there are but few wild beasts and
no men, for only the Wieroos live upon this island and they dwell
always in cities of which there are three, this being the largest.
The others are at the far end of the island, which is about three
marches from end to end and at its widest point about one march."
From his own experience and from what the natives on the mainland
had told him, Bradley knew that ten miles was a good day's march
in Caspak, owing to the fact that at most points it was a
trackless wilderness and at all times travelers were beset by
hideous beasts and reptiles that greatly impeded rapid progress.
The two had spoken rapidly but were now interrupted by the advent
through the opening in the roof of several Wieroos who had come
in answer to the alarm it of the yellow slashing had uttered.
"This jaal-lu," cried the offended one, "has threatened me.
Take its hatchet from it and make it fast where it can do no
harm until He Who Speaks for Luata has said what shall be done
with it. It is one of those strange creatures that Fosh-bal-soj
discovered first above the Band-lu country and followed back toward
the beginning. He Who Speaks for Luata sent Fosh-bal-soj to fetch
him one of the creatures, and here it is. It is hoped that it may
be from another world and hold the secret of the cos-ata-lus."
The Wieroos approached boldly to take Bradley's "hatchet" from
him, their leader having indicated the pistol hanging in its
holster at the Englishman's hip, but the first one went reeling
backward against his fellows from the blow to the chin which
Bradley followed up with a rush and the intention to clean up the
room in record time; but he had reckoned without the opening in
the roof. Two were down and a great wailing and moaning was
arising when reinforcements appeared from above. Bradley did not
see them; but the girl did, and though she cried out a warning,
it came too late for him to avoid a large Wieroo who dived
headforemost for him, striking him between the shoulders and
bearing him to the floor. Instantly a dozen more were piling on
top of him. His pistol was wrenched from its holster and he was
securely pinioned down by the weight of numbers.
At a word from the Wieroo of the yellow slashing who evidently
was a person of authority, one left and presently returned with
fiber ropes with which Bradley was tightly bound.
"Now bear him to the Blue Place of Seven Skulls," directed the
chief Wieroo, "and one take the word of all that has passed to
Him Who Speaks for Luata."
Each of the creatures raised a hand, the back against its face,
as though in salute. One seized Bradley and carried him through
the yellow doorway to the roof from whence it rose upon its
wide-spread wings and flapped off across the roof-tops of Oo-oh
with its heavy burden clutched in its long talons.
Below him Bradley could see the city stretching away to a
distance on every hand. It was not as large as he had imagined,
though he judged that it was at least three miles square.
The houses were piled in indescribable heaps, sometimes to a
height of a hundred feet. The streets and alleys were short
and crooked and there were many areas where buildings had been
wedged in so closely that no light could possibly reach the
lowest tiers, the entire surface of the ground being packed
solidly with them.
The colors were varied and startling, the architecture amazing.
Many roofs were cup or saucer-shaped with a small hole in the
center of each, as though they had been constructed to catch
rain-water and conduct it to a reservoir beneath; but nearly all
the others had the large opening in the top that Bradley had seen
used by these flying men in lieu of doorways. At all levels were
the myriad poles surmounted by grinning skulls; but the two most
prominent features of the city were the round tower of human
skulls that Bradley had noted earlier in the day and another and
much larger edifice near the center of the city. As they
approached it, Bradley saw that it was a huge building rising a
hundred feet in height from the ground and that it stood alone in
the center of what might have been called a plaza in some other
part of the world. Its various parts, however, were set together
with the same strange irregularity that marked the architecture
of the city as a whole; and it was capped by an enormous
saucer-shaped roof which projected far beyond the eaves, having
the appearance of a colossal Chinese coolie hat, inverted.
The Wieroo bearing Bradley passed over one corner of the open
space about the large building, revealing to the Englishman grass
and trees and running water beneath. They passed the building
and about five hundred yards beyond the creature alighted on the
roof of a square, blue building surmounted by seven poles bearing
seven skulls. This then, thought Bradley, is the Blue Place of
Seven Skulls.
Over the opening in the roof was a grated covering, and this the
Wieroo removed. The thing then tied a piece of fiber rope to one
of Bradley's ankles and rolled him over the edge of the opening.
All was dark below and for an instant the Englishman came as near
to experiencing real terror as he had ever come in his life before.
As he rolled off into the black abyss he felt the rope tighten
about his ankle and an instant later he was stopped with a sudden
jerk to swing pendulumlike, head downward. Then the creature
lowered away until Bradley's head came in sudden and painful
contact with the floor below, after which the Wieroo let loose
of the rope entirely and the Englishman's body crashed to the
wooden planking. He felt the free end of the rope dropped
upon him and heard the grating being slid into place above him.
