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 imaginings 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 drooping 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 subjects; 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.