Chapter 2
When Bradley went on guard at midnight, September 14th, his thoughtswere largely occupied with rejoicing that the night was almost spentwithout serious mishap and that the morrow would doubtless see them allsafely returned to Fort Dinosaur. The hopefulness of his mood wastinged with sorrow by recollection of the two members of his party wholay back there in the savage wilderness and for whom there would neveragain be a homecoming.
No premonition of impending ill cast gloom over his anticipations forthe coming day, for Bradley was a man who, while taking everyprecaution against possible danger, permitted no gloomy forebodings toweigh down his spirit. When danger threatened, he was prepared; but hewas not forever courting disaster, and so it was that when about oneo'clock in the morning of the fifteenth, he heard the dismal flappingof giant wings overhead, he was neither surprised nor frightened butidly prepared for an attack he had known might reasonably be expected.
The sound seemed to come from the south, and presently, low above thetrees in that direction, the man made out a dim, shadowy form circlingslowly about. Bradley was a brave man, yet so keen was the feeling ofrevulsion engendered by the sight and sound of that grim, uncanny shapethat he distinctly felt the gooseflesh rise over the surface of hisbody, and it was with difficulty that he refrained from following aninstinctive urge to fire upon the nocturnal intruder. Better, farbetter would it have been had he given in to the insistent demand ofhis subconscious mentor; but his almost fanatical obsession to saveammunition proved now his undoing, for while his attention was rivetedupon the thing circling before him and while his ears were filled withthe beating of its wings, there swooped silently out of the black nightbehind him another weird and ghostly shape. With its huge wings partlyclosed for the dive and its white robe fluttering in its wake, theapparition swooped down upon the Englishman.
So great was the force of the impact when the thing struck Bradleybetween the shoulders that the man was half stunned. His rifle flewfrom his grasp; he felt clawlike talons of great strength seize himbeneath his arms and sweep him off his feet; and then the thing roseswiftly with him, so swiftly that his cap was blown from his head bythe rush of air as he was borne rapidly upward into the inky sky andthe cry of warning to his companions was forced back into his lungs.
The creature wheeled immediately toward the east and was at once joinedby its fellow, who circled them once and then fell in behind them.Bradley now realized the strategy that the pair had used to capture himand at once concluded that he was in the power of reasoning beingsclosely related to the human race if not actually of it.
Past experience suggested that the great wings were a part of someingenious 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 benaturally winged and at the same time of human origin. From hisposition Bradley could not see the wings of his captor, nor in thedarkness had he been able to examine those of the second creatureclosely when it circled before him. He listened for the puff of amotor or some other telltale sound that would prove the correctness ofhis theory. However, he was rewarded with nothing more than theconstant 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 thatwhich proved beyond doubt to Bradley that he was in the hands of humanbeings who had devised an almost perfect scheme of duplicating,mechanically, the wings of a bird--the thing spoke to its companion andin a language that Bradley partially understood, since he recognizedwords that he had learned from the savage races of Caspak. From thishe judged that they were human, and being human, he knew that theycould have no natural wings--for who had ever seen a human being soadorned! Therefore their wings must be mechanical. Thus Bradleyreasoned--thus most of us reason; not by what might be possible; but bywhat has fallen within the range of our experience.
What he heard them say was to the effect that having covered half thedistance the burden would now be transferred from one to the other.Bradley wondered how the exchange was to be accomplished. He knew thatthose giant wings would not permit the creatures to approach oneanother closely enough to effect the transfer in this manner; but hewas soon to discover that they had other means of doing it.
He felt the thing that carried him rise to a greater altitude, andbelow he glimpsed momentarily the second white-robed figure; then thecreature above sounded a low call, it was answered from below, andinstantly Bradley felt the clutching talons release him; gasping forbreath, he hurtled downward through space.
For a terrifying instant, pregnant with horror, Bradley fell; thensomething swooped for him from behind, another pair of talons clutchedhim beneath the arms, his downward rush was checked, within anotherhundred feet, and close to the surface of the sea he was again borneupward. As a hawk dives for a songbird on the wing, so this great,human bird dived for Bradley. It was a harrowing experience, but soonover, and once again the captive was being carried swiftly toward theeast and what fate he could not even guess.
It was immediately following his transfer in mid-air that Bradley madeout 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 hisseizure his captors dropped gently to earth in the strangest city thathuman eye had ever rested upon. Just a brief glimpse of his immediatesurroundings vouchsafed Bradley before he was whisked into the interiorof one of the buildings; but in that momentary glance he saw strangepiles of stone and wood and mud fashioned into buildings of allconceivable sizes and shapes, sometimes piled high on top of oneanother, sometimes standing alone in an open court-way, but usuallycrowded and jammed together, so that there were no streets or alleysbetween 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 throughone of these that Bradley was inducted into the dark interior of alow-ceiled room. Here he was pushed roughly into a corner where hetripped over a thick mat, and there his captors left him. He heardthem moving about in the darkness for a moment, and several times hesaw their large luminous eyes glowing in the dark. Finally, thesedisappeared and silence reigned, broken only by the breathing of thecreature which indicated to the Englishman that they were sleepingsomewhere in the same apartment.
It was now evident that the mat upon the floor was intended forsleeping purposes and that the rough shove that had sent him to it hadbeen a rude invitation to repose. After taking stock of himself andfinding that he still had his pistol and ammunition, some matches, alittle tobacco, a canteen full of water and a razor, Bradley madehimself comfortable upon the mat and was soon asleep, knowing that anattempted escape in the darkness without knowledge of his surroundingswould be predoomed to failure.
When he awoke, it was broad daylight, and the sight that met his eyesmade him rub them again and again to assure himself that they werereally open and that he was not dreaming. A broad shaft of morninglight poured through the open doorway in the ceiling of the room whichwas about thirty feet square, or roughly square, being irregular inshape, one side curving outward, another being indented by what mighthave been the corner of another building jutting into it, anotheralcoved by three sides of an octagon, while the fourth was serpentinein contour. Two windows let in more daylight, while two doorsevidently gave ingress to other rooms. The walls were partially ceiledwith thin strips of wood, nicely fitted and finished, partiallyplastered and the rest covered with a fine, woven cloth. Figures ofreptiles and beasts were painted without regard to any uniform schemehere and there upon the walls. A striking feature of the decorationsconsisted of several engaged columns set into the walls at no regularintervals, the capitals of each supporting a human skull the cranium ofwhich touched the ceiling, as though the latter was supported by thesegrim reminders either of departed relatives or of some hideous tribalrite--Bradley could
not but wonder which.
Yet it was none of these things that filled him with greatestwonder--no, it was the figures of the two creatures that had capturedhim and brought him hither. At one end of the room a stout pole abouttwo inches in diameter ran horizontally from wall to wall some six orseven feet from the floor, its ends securely set in two of the columns.Hanging by their knees from this perch, their heads downward and theirbodies wrapped in their huge wings, slept the creatures of the nightbefore--like two great, horrid bats they hung, asleep.
As Bradley gazed upon them in wide-eyed astonishment, he saw plainlythat all his intelligence, all his acquired knowledge through years ofobservation and experience were set at naught by the simple evidence ofthe fact that stood out glaringly before his eyes--the creatures' wingswere not mechanical devices but as natural appendages, growing fromtheir shoulderblades, as were their arms and legs. He saw, too, thatexcept for their wings the pair bore a strong resemblance to humanbeings, though fashioned in a most grotesque mold.
As he sat gazing at them, one of the two awoke, separated his wings torelease his arms that had been folded across his breast, placed hishands upon the floor, dropped his feet and stood erect. For a momenthe stretched his great wings slowly, solemnly blinking his large roundeyes. Then his gaze fell upon Bradley. The thin lips drew backtightly against yellow teeth in a grimace that was nothing but hideous.It could not have been termed a smile, and what emotion it registeredthe Englishman was at a loss to guess. No expression whatever alteredthe steady gaze of those large, round eyes; there was no color upon thepasty, sunken cheeks. A death's head grimaced as though a man longdead raised his parchment-covered skull from an old grave.
The creature stood about the height of an average man but appeared muchtaller from the fact that the joints of his long wings rose fully afoot above his hairless head. The bare arms were long and sinewy,ending in strong, bony hands with clawlike fingers--almost talonlike intheir suggestiveness. The white robe was separated in front, revealingskinny legs and the further fact that the thing wore but the singlegarment, which was of fine, woven cloth. From crown to sole theportions of the body exposed were entirely hairless, and as he notedthis, Bradley also noted for the first time the cause of much of theseeming expressionlessness of the creature's countenance--it hadneither eye-brows or lashes. The ears were small and rested flatagainst the skull, which was noticeably round, though the face wasquite flat. The creature had small feet, beautifully arched and plump,but so out of keeping with every other physical attribute it possessedas to appear ridiculous.
After eyeing Bradley for a moment the thing approached him. "Wherefrom?" 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 afew questions. Who are you? What country is this? Why did you bringme here?"
Again the sepulchral grimace. "We are Wieroos--Luata is our father.Caspak is ours. This, our country, is called Oo-oh. We brought youhere for (literally) Him Who Speaks for Luata to gaze upon andquestion. He would know from whence you came and why; but principallyif 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 bonyclaws toward the human skulls supporting the ceiling. His gesture waseloquent; 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 thanthat upon which they had landed earlier in the morning. By daylightthe city appeared even more remarkable than in the moonlight, thoughless weird and unreal. The houses of all shapes and sizes were piledabout as a child might pile blocks of various forms and colors. He sawnow that there were what might be called streets or alleys, but theyran in baffling turns and twists, nor ever reached a destination,always ending in a dead wall where some Wieroo had built a house acrossthem.
Upon each house was a slender column supporting a human skull.Sometimes the columns were at one corner of the roof, sometimes atanother, or again they rose from the center or near the center, and thecolumns were of varying heights, from that of a man to those which rosetwenty feet above their roofs. The skulls were, as a rule,painted--blue or white, or in combinations of both colors. The mosteffective were painted blue with the teeth white and the eye-socketsrimmed with white.
There were other skulls--thousands of them--tens, hundreds ofthousands. They rimmed the eaves of every house, they were set in theplaster of the outer walls and at no great distance from where Bradleystood rose a round tower built entirely of human skulls. And the cityextended in every direction as far as the Englishman could see.
All about him Wieroos were moving across the roofs or winging throughthe air. The sad sound of their flapping wings rose and fell like asolemn dirge. Most of them were appareled all in white, like hiscaptors; but others had markings of red or blue or yellow slashedacross the front of their robes.
His guide pointed toward a doorway in an alley below them. "Go thereand eat," he commanded, "and then come back. You cannot escape. Ifany question you, say that you belong to Fosh-bal-soj. There is theway." And this time he pointed to the top of a ladder which protrudedabove the eaves of the roof near-by. Then he turned and reentered thehouse.
Bradley looked about him. No, he could not escape--that seemedevident. The city appeared interminable, and beyond the city, if not asavage wilderness filled with wild beasts, there was the broad inlandsea infested with horrid monsters. No wonder his captor felt safe inturning him loose in Oo-oh--he wondered if that was the name of thecountry or the city and if there were other cities like this upon theisland.
Slowly he descended the ladder to the seemingly deserted alley whichwas paved with what appeared to be large, round cobblestones. Helooked again at the smooth, worn pavement, and a rueful grin crossedhis features--the alley was paved with skulls. "The City of HumanSkulls," mused Bradley. "They must have been collectin' 'em sinceAdam," he thought, and then he crossed and entered the building throughthe doorway that had been pointed out to him.
Inside he found a large room in which were many Wieroos seated beforepedestals the tops of which were hollowed out so that they resembledthe ordinary bird drinking- and bathing-fonts so commonly seen onsuburban lawns. A seat protruded from each of the four sides of thepedestals--just a flat board with a support running from its outer enddiagonally to the base of the pedestal.
As Bradley entered, some of the Wieroos espied him, and a dismal wailarose. Whether it was a greeting or a threat, Bradley did not know.Suddenly from a dark alcove another Wieroo rushed out toward him. "Whoare 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, andBradley sat down unconscious of the fact that he had been insulted bybeing called a hyena-man, an appellation of contempt in Caspak.
The Wieroo had seated him at a pedestal by himself, and as he satwaiting for what was next to transpire, he looked about him at theWieroo in his immediate vicinity. He saw that in each font was aquantity of food, and that each Wieroo was armed with a wooden skewer,sharpened at one end; with which they carried solid portions of food totheir mouths. At the other end of the skewer was fastened a smallclam-shell. This was used to scoop up the smaller and softer portionsof the repast into which all four of the occupants of
each table dippedimpartially. The Wieroo leaned far over their food, scooping it uprapidly and with much noise, and so great was their haste that a partof each mouthful always fell back into the common dish; and when theychoked, by reason of the rapidity with which they attempted to bolttheir food, they often lost it all. Bradley was glad that he had apedestal all to himself.
Soon the keeper of the place returned with a wooden bowl filled withfood. This he dumped into Bradley's "trough," as he already thought ofit. The Englishman was glad that he could not see into the dark alcoveor know what were all the ingredients that constituted the mess beforehim, for he was very hungry.
After the first mouthful he cared even less to investigate theantecedents of the dish, for he found it peculiarly palatable. Itseemed to consist of a combination of meat, fruits, vegetables, smallfish and other undistinguishable articles of food all seasoned toproduce a gastronomic effect that was at once baffling and delicious.
When he had finished, his trough was empty, and then he commenced towonder who was to settle for his meal. As he waited for the proprietorto return, he fell to examining the dish from which he had eaten andthe pedestal upon which it rested. The font was of stone worn smoothby long-continued use, the four outer edges hollowed and polished bythe contact of the countless Wieroo bodies that had leaned against themfor how long a period of time Bradley could not even guess. Everythingabout the place carried the impression of hoary age. The carvedpedestals were black with use, the wooden seats were worn hollow, thefloor of stone slabs was polished by the contact of possibly millionsof naked feet and worn away in the aisles between the pedestals so thatthe latter rested upon little mounds of stone several inches above thegeneral level of the floor.
Finally, seeing that no one came to collect, Bradley arose and startedfor the doorway. He had covered half the distance when he heard thevoice of mine host calling to him: "Come back, jaal-lu," screamed theWieroo; and Bradley did as he was bid. As he approached the creaturewhich stood now behind a large, flat-topped pedestal beside the alcove,he saw lying upon the smooth surface something that almost elicited agasp of astonishment from him--a simple, common thing it was, or wouldhave been almost anywhere in the world but Caspak--a square bit ofpaper!
And on it, in a fine hand, written compactly, were many strangehieroglyphics! These remarkable creatures, then, had a written as wellas a spoken language and besides the art of weaving cloth possessedthat of paper-making. Could it be that such grotesque beingsrepresented the high culture of the human race within the boundaries ofCaspak? Had natural selection produced during the countless ages ofCaspakian life a winged monstrosity that represented the earthlypinnacle of man's evolution?
Bradley had noted something of the obvious indications of a gradualevolution from ape to spearman as exemplified by the severaloverlapping races of Alalus, club-men and hatchet-men that formed theconnecting links between the two extremes with which he, had come incontact. He had heard of the Krolus and the Galus--reputed to be stillhigher in the plane of evolution--and now he had indisputable evidenceof a race possessing refinements of civilization eons in advance of thespear-men. The conjectures awakened by even a momentary considerationof the possibilities involved became at once as wildly bizarre as theinsane imaginings of a drug addict.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the Wieroo held out a penof bone fixed to a wooden holder and at the same time made a sign thatBradley was to write upon the paper. It was difficult to judge fromthe expressionless features of the Wieroo what was passing in thecreature's mind, but Bradley could not but feel that the thing cast asupercilious glance upon him as much as to say, "Of course you do notknow 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 seizedthe piece of paper and examined the writing with every mark ofincredulity and surprise. Of course it could make nothing of thestrange characters; but it evidently accepted them as proof thatBradley possessed knowledge of a written language of his own, forfollowing the Englishman's entry it made a few characters of its own.
"You will come here again just before Lua hides his face behind thegreat cliff," announced the creature, "unless before that you aresummoned by Him Who Speaks for Luata, in which case you will not haveto eat any more."
"Reassuring cuss," thought Bradley as he turned and left the building.
Outside were several Wieroos that had been eating at the pedestalswithin. They immediately surrounded him, asking all sorts ofquestions, plucking at his garments, his ammunition-belt and hispistol. Their demeanor was entirely different from what it had beenwithin the eating-place and Bradley was to learn that a house of foodwas sanctuary for him, since the stern laws of the Wieroos forbadealtercations 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 haddescended; but the Englishman was not one to brook interference forlong. He attempted at first to push his way past them, and then whenone seized his arm and jerked him roughly back, Bradley swung upon thecreature and with a heavy blow to the jaw felled it.
Instantly pandemonium reigned. Loud wails arose, great wings openedand closed with a loud, beating noise and many clawlike hands reachedforth to clutch him. Bradley struck to right and left. He dared notuse his pistol for fear that once they discovered its power he would beovercome by weight of numbers and relieved of possession of what heconsidered his trump card, to be reserved until the last moment that itmight be used to aid in his escape, for already the Englishman wasplanning, though almost hopelessly, such an attempt.
A few blows convinced Bradley that the Wieroos were arrant cowards andthat they bore no weapons, for after two or three had fallen beneathhis fists the others formed a circle about him, but at a safe distanceand contented themselves with threatening and blustering, while thosewhom he had felled lay upon the pavement without trying to arise, thewhile they moaned and wailed in lugubrious chorus.
Again Bradley strode toward the ladder, and this time the circle partedbefore him; but no sooner had he ascended a few rungs than he wasseized by one foot and an effort made to drag him down. With a quickbackward glance the Englishman, clinging firmly to the ladder with bothhands, drew up his free foot and with all the strength of a powerfulleg, planted a heavy shoe squarely in the flat face of the Wieroo thatheld him. Shrieking horribly, the creature clapped both hands to itsface and sank to the ground while Bradley clambered quickly theremaining distance to the roof, though no sooner did he reach the topof the ladder than a great flapping of wings beneath him warned himthat the Wieroos were rising after him. A moment later they swarmedabout his head as he ran for the apartment in which he had spent theearly 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 andFosh-bal-soj stepped out. Immediately the pursuing Wieroos demandedpunishment of the jaal-lu who had so grievously maltreated them.Fosh-bal-soj listened to their complaints and then with a sudden sweepof his right hand seized Bradley by the scruff of the neck and hurledhim sprawling through the doorway upon the floor of the chamber.
So sudden was the assault and so surprising the strength of the Wieroothat the Englishman was taken completely off his guard. When he arose,the door was closed, and Fosh-bal-soj was standing over him, hishideous 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 sacredchosen of Luata!"
Bradley was mad, and so he spoke in a very low, calm voice while ahalf-smile played across his lips but his cold, gray eyes wereunsmiling.
"What you did to me just now," he said, "--I am going to kill you forthat," and even as he spoke, he launched himself at the th
roat ofFosh-bal-soj. The other Wieroo that had been asleep when Bradley leftthe chamber had departed, and the two were alone. Fosh-bal-sojdisplayed little of the cowardice of those that had attacked Bradley inthe alleyway, but that may have been because he had so slightopportunity, for Bradley had him by the throat before he could utter acry and with his right hand struck him heavily and repeatedly upon hisface and over his heart--ugly, smashing, short-arm jabs of the sortthat take the fight out of a man in quick time.
But Fosh-bal-soj was of no mind to die passively. He clawed and struckat Bradley while with his great wings he attempted to shield himselffrom the merciless rain of blows, at the same time searching for a holdupon his antagonist's throat. Presently he succeeded in tripping theEnglishman, and together the two fell heavily to the floor, Bradleyunderneath, and at the same instant the Wieroo fastened his long talonsabout the other's windpipe.
Fosh-bal-soj was possessed of enormous strength and he was fighting forhis life. The Englishman soon realized that the battle was goingagainst him. Already his lungs were pounding painfully for air as hereached for his pistol. It was with difficulty that he drew it fromits holster, and even then, with death staring him in the face, hethought of his precious ammunition. "Can't waste it," he thought; andslipping his fingers to the barrel he raised the weapon and struckFosh-bal-soj a terrific blow between the eyes. Instantly the clawlikefingers released their hold, and the creature sank limply to the floorbeside Bradley, who lay for several minutes gasping painfully in aneffort to regain his breath.
When he was able, he rose, and leaned close over the Wieroo, lyingsilent and motionless, his wings drooping limply and his great, roundeyes staring blankly toward the ceiling. A brief examination convincedBradley that the thing was dead, and with the conviction came anoverwhelming sense of the dangers which must now confront him; but howwas he to escape?
His first thought was to find some means for concealing the evidence ofhis deed and then to make a bold effort to escape. Stepping to thesecond door he pushed it gently open and peered in upon what seemed tobe 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 bluehieroglyphics upon the white. In one corner was a pile of human skullsreaching almost to the ceiling and in another a stack of dried Wieroowings. The chamber was as irregularly shaped as the other and had buta single window and a second door at the further end, but was withoutthe exit through the roof and, most important of all, there was nocreature of any sort in it.
As quickly as possible Bradley dragged the dead Wieroo through thedoorway and closed the door; then he looked about for a place toconceal the corpse. One of the chests was large enough to hold thebody if the knees were bent well up, and with this idea in view Bradleyapproached the chest to open it. The lid was made in two pieces, eachbeing hinged at an opposite end of the chest and joining nicely wherethey 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--thechest was about half filled with an assortment of golden trinkets.There were what appeared to be bracelets, anklets and brooches ofvirgin gold.
Realizing that there was no room in the chest for the body of theWieroo, Bradley turned to seek another means of concealing the evidenceof his crime. There was a space between the chests and the wall, andinto this he forced the corpse, piling the discarded robes upon ituntil it was entirely hidden from sight; but now how was he to makegood his escape in the bright glare of that early Spring day?
He walked to the door at the far end of the apartment and cautiouslyopened it an inch. Before him and about two feet away was the blankwall of another building. Bradley opened the door a little farther andlooked in both directions. There was no one in sight to the left overa considerable expanse of roof-top, and to the right another buildingshut off his line of vision at about twenty feet. Slipping out, heturned to the right and in a few steps found a narrow passagewaybetween two buildings. Turning into this he passed about half itslength when he saw a Wieroo appear at the opposite end and halt. Thecreature was not looking down the passageway; but at any moment itmight 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 thehouses and into this he dodged, thus concealing himself from the sightof the Wieroo. Beside him was a door painted a vivid yellow andconstructed after the same fashion as the other Wieroo doors he hadseen, being made up of countless narrow strips of wood from four to sixinches in length laid on in patches of about the same width, the stripsin adjacent patches never running in the same direction. The resultbore some resemblance to a crazy patchwork quilt, which was heightenedwhen, as in one of the doors he had seen, contiguous patches werepainted different colors. The strips appeared to have been boundtogether and to the underlying framework of the door with gut or fiberand 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 twoinches in diameter that protruded at top and bottom, the projectionssetting in round holes in both lintel and sill forming the axis uponwhich the door swung. An eccentric disk upon the inside face of thedoor engaged a slot in the frame when it was desired to secure the dooragainst intruders.
As Bradley stood flattened against the wall waiting for the Wieroo tomove on, he heard the creature's wings brushing against the sides ofthe buildings as it made its way down the narrow passage in hisdirection. As the yellow door offered the only means of escape withoutdetection, the Englishman decided to risk whatever might lie beyond it,and so, boldly pushing it in, he crossed the threshold and entered asmall apartment.
As he did so, he heard a muffled ejaculation of surprise, and turninghis eyes in the direction from whence the sound had come, he beheld awide-eyed girl standing flattened against the opposite wall, anexpression of incredulity upon her face. At a glance he saw that shewas of no race of humans that he had come in contact with since hisarrival upon Caprona--there was no trace about her form or features ofany relationship to those low orders of men, nor was she appareled asthey--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 onone side and almost to her right knee on the other, a loose girdle wasabout her waist, and golden ornaments such as he had seen in theblue-and-white chest encircled her arms and legs, while a golden filletwith a triangular diadem bound her heavy hair above her brows. Herskin was white as from long confinement within doors; but it was clearand fine. Her figure, but partially concealed by the soft deerskin,was all curves of symmetry and youthful grace, while her features mighteasily have been the envy of the most feted of Continental beauties.
If the girl was surprised by the sudden appearance of Bradley, thelatter was absolutely astounded to discover so wondrous a creatureamong the hideous inhabitants of the City of Human Skulls. For amoment the two looked at one another in unconcealed consternation, andthen Bradley spoke, using to the best of his poor ability, the commontongue of Caspak.
"Who are you," he asked, "and from where do you come? Do not tell methat you are a Wieroo."
"No," she replied, "I am no Wieroo." And she shuddered slightly as shepronounced the word. "I am a Galu; but who and what are you? I amsure that you are no Galu, from your garments; but you are like theGalus in other respects. I know that you are not of this frightfulcity, for I have been here for almost ten moons, and never have I seena 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 sheunderstood, and from her he learned that she had been a prisoner therefor many months; but for what purpose he did not then learn, as in themidst of their conversation the yellow door s
wung open and a Wieroowith a robe slashed with yellow entered.
At sight of Bradley the creature became furious. "Whence came thisreptile?" it demanded of the girl. "How long has it been here withyou?"
"It came through the doorway just ahead of you," Bradley answered forthe 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 doorthe 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 toendanger you."
The Wieroo backed toward the door. "Defiler!" it screamed. "You dareto threaten one of the sacred chosen of Luata!"
"Do not kill him," cried the girl, "for then there could be no hope foryou. That you are here, alive, shows that they may not intend to killyou 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 loftiestpedestal 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 wereso oft repeated by the denizens of Oo-oh? Lu and lo, Bradley knew tomean man and woman; ata; was employed variously to indicate life, eggs,young, reproduction and kindred subjects; cos was a negative; but incombination 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 beworse than death--in just a few nights more, with the coming of the newmoon."
"Poor she-snake!" snapped the Wieroo. "You are to become sacred aboveall other shes. He Who Speaks for Luata has chosen you for himself.Today you go to his temple--" the Wieroo used a phrase meaningliterally 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 couldinterpose and in a low voice asked her if there was no way by which hemight encompass her escape. She shook her head sorrowfully. "Even ifwe escaped the city," she replied, "there is the big water between theisland 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 abeautiful land in which there are but few wild beasts and no men, foronly the Wieroos live upon this island and they dwell always in citiesof which there are three, this being the largest. The others are atthe far end of the island, which is about three marches from end to endand at its widest point about one march."
From his own experience and from what the natives on the mainland hadtold 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 andat all times travelers were beset by hideous beasts and reptiles thatgreatly impeded rapid progress.
The two had spoken rapidly but were now interrupted by the adventthrough the opening in the roof of several Wieroos who had come inanswer to the alarm it of the yellow slashing had uttered.
"This jaal-lu," cried the offended one, "has threatened me. Take itshatchet from it and make it fast where it can do no harm until He WhoSpeaks for Luata has said what shall be done with it. It is one ofthose strange creatures that Fosh-bal-soj discovered first above theBand-lu country and followed back toward the beginning. He Who Speaksfor Luata sent Fosh-bal-soj to fetch him one of the creatures, and hereit is. It is hoped that it may be from another world and hold thesecret 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 theEnglishman's hip, but the first one went reeling backward against hisfellows from the blow to the chin which Bradley followed up with a rushand the intention to clean up the room in record time; but he hadreckoned without the opening in the roof. Two were down and a greatwailing and moaning was arising when reinforcements appeared fromabove. Bradley did not see them; but the girl did, and though shecried out a warning, it came too late for him to avoid a large Wieroowho dived headforemost for him, striking him between the shoulders andbearing him to the floor. Instantly a dozen more were piling on top ofhim. His pistol was wrenched from its holster and he was securelypinioned down by the weight of numbers.
At a word from the Wieroo of the yellow slashing who evidently was aperson of authority, one left and presently returned with fiber ropeswith which Bradley was tightly bound.
"Now bear him to the Blue Place of Seven Skulls," directed the chiefWieroo, "and one take the word of all that has passed to Him Who Speaksfor Luata."
Each of the creatures raised a hand, the back against its face, asthough in salute. One seized Bradley and carried him through theyellow doorway to the roof from whence it rose upon its wide-spreadwings and flapped off across the roof-tops of Oo-oh with its heavyburden clutched in its long talons.
Below him Bradley could see the city stretching away to a distance onevery hand. It was not as large as he had imagined, though he judgedthat it was at least three miles square. The houses were piled inindescribable heaps, sometimes to a height of a hundred feet. Thestreets and alleys were short and crooked and there were many areaswhere buildings had been wedged in so closely that no light couldpossibly reach the lowest tiers, the entire surface of the ground beingpacked solidly with them.
The colors were varied and startling, the architecture amazing. Manyroofs were cup or saucer-shaped with a small hole in the center ofeach, as though they had been constructed to catch rain-water andconduct it to a reservoir beneath; but nearly all the others had thelarge opening in the top that Bradley had seen used by these flying menin lieu of doorways. At all levels were the myriad poles surmounted bygrinning skulls; but the two most prominent features of the city werethe round tower of human skulls that Bradley had noted earlier in theday 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 ahundred feet in height from the ground and that it stood alone in thecenter of what might have been called a plaza in some other part of theworld. Its various parts, however, were set together with the samestrange irregularity that marked the architecture of the city as awhole; and it was capped by an enormous saucer-shaped roof whichprojected far beyond the eaves, having the appearance of a colossalChinese coolie hat, inverted.
The Wieroo bearing Bradley passed over one corner of the open spaceabout the large building, revealing to the Englishman grass and treesand running water beneath. They passed the building and about fivehundred yards beyond the creature alighted on the roof of a square,blue building surmounted by seven poles bearing seven skulls. Thisthen, thought Bradley, is the Blue Place of Seven Skulls.
Over the opening in the roof was a grated covering, and this the Wierooremoved. The thing then tied a piece of fiber rope to one of Bradley'sankles and rolled him over the edge of the opening. All was dark belowand for an instant the Englishman came as near to experiencing realterror as he had ever come in his life before. As he rolled off intothe black abyss he felt the rope tighten about his ankle and an instantlater he was stopped with a sudden jerk to swing pendulumlike, headdownward. Then the creature lowered away until Bradley's head came insudden and painful contact with the floor below, after which the Wieroolet loose of the rope entirely and the Englishman's body crashed to thewooden planking. He felt the free end of the rope dropped upon him andheard the grating being slid into place above him.
Out of Time's Abyss Page 2
