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03 - Out of Time's Abyss - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Science Fiction Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three. Half stunned, Bradley lay for a minute as
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  Speaker 1: he had fallen, and then slowly and painfully wriggled into
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  Speaker 1: a less uncomfortable position. He could see nothing of his
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  Speaker 1: surroundings in the gloom about him, until after a few
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  Speaker 1: minutes his eyes became accustomed to the dark interior. When
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  Speaker 1: he rolled them from side to side in survey of
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  Speaker 1: his prison, he discovered himself to be in a bare
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  Speaker 1: room which was windowless, nor could he see any other
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  Speaker 1: opening than that through which he had been lowered. In
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  Speaker 1: one corner was a huddled mass that might have been
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  Speaker 1: almost anything from a bundle of rags to a dead body.
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  Speaker 1: Almost immediately after he had taken his bearings, Bradley commenced
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  Speaker 1: working with his bonds. He was a man of powerful physique,
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  Speaker 1: and as from the first he had been imbued with
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  Speaker 1: a belief that the fiber ropes were too weak to
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  Speaker 1: hold him, he worked on with firm conviction that sooner
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  Speaker 1: or later they would part to his trainings. After a
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  Speaker 1: matter of five minutes, he was positive that the strands
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  Speaker 1: about his wrists were beginning to give, but he was
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  Speaker 1: compelled to rest then from exhaustion. As he lay his
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  Speaker 1: eyes rested upon the bundle in the corner, and presently
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  Speaker 1: he could have sworn that the thing moved. With eyes
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  Speaker 1: straining through the gloom, the man lay watching the grim
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  Speaker 1: and sinister thing in the corner. Perhaps his overwroughten nerves
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  Speaker 1: were playing a sorry joke upon him. He thought of this,
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  Speaker 1: and also that his condition of utter helplessness might still
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  Speaker 1: further have stimulated his imagination. He closed his eyes and
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  Speaker 1: sought to relax his muscles and his nerves. But when
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  Speaker 1: he looked again, he knew that he had not been mistaken.
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  Speaker 1: The thing had moved. Now it lay in a slightly
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  Speaker 1: altered form, and farther from the wall, it was nearer him.
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  Speaker 1: With renewed strength, Bradly strained at his bonds, his fascinated
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  Speaker 1: gaze still glued upon the shapeless bundle. No longer was
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  Speaker 1: there any doubt that it moved. He saw it rise
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  Speaker 1: in the center several inches, and then creep closer to him.
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  Speaker 1: It sank and rose again, a headless, hideous, monstrous thing
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  Speaker 1: of menace. Its very silence rendered it the more terrible.
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  Speaker 1: Bradley was a brave man, ordinarily his nerves were of steel,
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  Speaker 1: But to be at the mercy of some unknown and
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  Speaker 1: nameless horror, to be unable to defend himself. It was
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  Speaker 1: these things that almost unstrung him, for at best he
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  Speaker 1: was only human to stand in the open, even with
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  Speaker 1: the odds all against him, to be able to use
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  Speaker 1: his fifts, to put up some sort of defense, to
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  Speaker 1: inflict punishment upon his adversary. Then he could face death
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  Speaker 1: with a smile. It was not death that he feared now,
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  Speaker 1: it was that horror of the unknown at his part,
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  Speaker 1: of the fiber of every son of woman. Closer and
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  Speaker 1: closer came the shapeless mass. Bradley lay motionless and listened.
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  Speaker 1: What was that he heard breathing he could not be mistaken,
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  Speaker 1: And then from out of the bundle of rags issued
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  Speaker 1: a hollow groan. Bradley felt his hair rise upon his head.
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  Speaker 1: He struggled with the slowly parting strands that held him.
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  Speaker 1: The thing beside him rose up higher than before, and
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  Speaker 1: the Englishman could have sworn that he saw a single
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  Speaker 1: eye peering at him from among the tumbled cloth. For
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  Speaker 1: a moment the bundle remained motionless, only the sound of
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  Speaker 1: breathing issued from it. Then there broke from it a
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  Speaker 1: maniacal laugh. Cold sweat stood upon Bradley's brow. As he
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  Speaker 1: tugged for liberation, he saw the rags rise higher and
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  Speaker 1: higher above him, until at last they tumbled upon the
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  Speaker 1: floor from the body of a naked man, A thin,
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  Speaker 1: a bony, a hideous caricature of a man that mouthed
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  Speaker 1: and mummed and wobbling, upon its weak and shaking legs,
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  Speaker 1: crumpled to the floor again, still laughing, laughing horribly, it
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  Speaker 1: crawled toward Bradley.
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  Speaker 2: Food.
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  Speaker 1: Food, It screamed, there is a way out, There is
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  Speaker 1: a way out. Dragging itself to his side, the creature
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  Speaker 1: slumped upon the Englishman's breast. Food It shrilled as with
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  Speaker 1: its bony fingers and its teeth. It sought the man's
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  Speaker 1: bare throat.
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  Speaker 2: Food.
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  Speaker 1: There is a way out. Bradley felt teeth upon his jugular.
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  Speaker 1: He turned and twisted, shaking himself free for an instant,
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  Speaker 1: but once more, with hideous persistence, the thing fastened itself
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  Speaker 1: upon him. The weak jaws were unable to send the
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  Speaker 1: dull teeth through the victim's flesh, but Bradley felt it pawing, pawing, pawing,
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  Speaker 1: like a monstrous rat seeking his life's blood. The skinny
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  Speaker 1: arms now embraced his neck, holding the teeth to his throat.
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  Speaker 1: Against all his efforts to disc lodged the thing. Weak
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  Speaker 1: as it was, it had strength enough for this in
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  Speaker 1: its mad efforts to eat. Mumbling as it worked, it
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  Speaker 1: repeated again and again food, Food, There is a way out,
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  Speaker 1: until Bradley thought those two expressions alone would drive him mad,
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  Speaker 1: and all but mad he was, as with a final
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  Speaker 1: effort back by almost maniacal strength, he tore his wrist
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  Speaker 1: from the confining bonds, and, grasping the repulsive thing upon
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  Speaker 1: his breast, hurled it half way across the room. Panting
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  Speaker 1: like a spent hound. Bradley worked at the thongs about
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  Speaker 1: his ankles, while the maniac lay, quivering and mumbling where
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  Speaker 1: it had fallen. Presently, the Englishman leaped to his feet,
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  Speaker 1: freer than he had ever before felt in all his life,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: though he was still hopelessly a prisoner in the blue
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  Speaker 1: place of seven skulls, with his back against the wall
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  Speaker 1: for support. So weak the reaction left him, Bradley stood
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  Speaker 1: watching the creature upon the floor. He saw it move
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  Speaker 1: and slowly raise itself to its hands and knees, where
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  Speaker 1: it swayed to and fro as its eyes roved about
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  Speaker 1: in search of him, And when at last they found him,
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  Speaker 1: there broke from the drawn lips the mumbled words food, food,
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  Speaker 1: there is a way out. The pitiful supplication in the
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  Speaker 1: tones touched the Englishman's heart. He knew that this would
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  Speaker 1: be no weiru, but possibly once a man like himself
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  Speaker 1: who had been cast into this pit of solitary confinement
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  Speaker 1: with this hideous result, that might in time be his
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  Speaker 1: fate also. And then too there was the suggestion of hope,
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  Speaker 1: held out by the constant reiteration of the phrase there
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  Speaker 1: is a way out? Was there a way out? What
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  Speaker 1: did this poor thing know? Who are you? And how
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  Speaker 1: long have you been here? Radley suddenly demanded For a moment,
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  Speaker 1: the man upon the floor made no response. Then Mum
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  Speaker 1: b Lingley came the words food, food, Stop, commanded the Englishman.
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  Speaker 1: The injunction might have been barked from the muzzle of
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  Speaker 1: a pistol. It brought the man to a sitting posture,
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  Speaker 1: his hands off the ground. He stopped swaying to and fro,
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  Speaker 1: and appeared to be startled into an attempt to master
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  Speaker 1: his faculties of concentration and thought. Bradley repeated his questions sharply.
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  Speaker 1: I am Antac. The galou, replied the man. Luata alone
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  Speaker 1: knows how long I have been here. May be ten moons,
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  Speaker 1: maybe ten moons three times. It was the Caspakian equivalent
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  Speaker 1: of thirty. I was young and strong when they brought
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  Speaker 1: me here. Now I am old and very weak. I
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  Speaker 1: am Cossatloo. That is why they have not killed me.
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  Speaker 1: If I tell them the secret of becoming Cossattloo, they
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  Speaker 1: will take me out. But how can I tell them that?
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  Speaker 1: Which Luata alone nose? What is Cossattaloo? Demanded Bradley. Food? Food?
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  Speaker 1: There is a way out, mumbled the Galloo. Bradley strode
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  Speaker 1: across the floor, seized the man by his shoulders and
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  Speaker 1: shook him. Tell me, he cried, What is Cossattloo food?
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  Speaker 1: Whimpered Antac. Bradley bethought himself his haversack had not been
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  Speaker 1: taken from him. In it, besides his razor and knife
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  Speaker 1: were odds and ends of equipment and a small quantity
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  Speaker 1: of dried meat. He tossed a small strip of the
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  Speaker 1: latter to the starving galou. Antac seized upon it and
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  Speaker 1: devoured it. Ravenously. It instilled new life in the man.
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  Speaker 1: What is cossattaloo? Insisted Bradley. Again, Antac tried to explain,
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  Speaker 1: his narrative was often broken by lapses of concentration, during
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  Speaker 1: which he reverted to his plaintive mumbling for food, and
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  Speaker 1: rec currents to the statement that there was a way out.
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  Speaker 1: But by firmness and patience the Englishmen drew out, piecemeal
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  Speaker 1: a more or less lucid exposition of the remarkable scheme
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  Speaker 1: of evolution that rules in Castpack. In it, he found
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  Speaker 1: explanations of the hitherto inexplicable. He discovered why he had
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  Speaker 1: seen no babes or children among the Caspakian tribes with
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  Speaker 1: which he had come in contact, Why each more northerly
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  Speaker 1: tribe evinced a higher state of development than those south
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  Speaker 1: of them, why each tribe included individuals ranging in physical
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  Speaker 1: and mental characteristics from the highest of the next low
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  Speaker 1: race to the loest of the next higher. And why
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  Speaker 1: the women of each tribe immersed themselves each morning for
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  Speaker 1: an hour or more in the warm pools near which
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  Speaker 1: the habitations of their people always were located. And two
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  Speaker 1: he discovered why those pools were almost immune from the
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  Speaker 1: attacks of carnivorous animals and reptile He learned that all
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  Speaker 1: but those who were cossatledoo came up coarse vajo or
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  Speaker 1: from the beginning. The egg from which they first developed
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  Speaker 1: into tadpole form, was deposited with millions of others in
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  Speaker 1: one of the warm pools, and with it a poisonous
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  Speaker 1: serum that the carnivora instinctively shunned. Down the warm stream.
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  Speaker 1: From the pool floated the countless billions of eggs and tadpoles,
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  Speaker 1: developing as they drifted slowly toward the sea. Some became
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  Speaker 1: tadpoles in the pool, some in the sluggish stream, and
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  Speaker 1: some not until they reached the great inland Sea. In
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  Speaker 1: the next stage, they became fishes or reptiles. Antac was
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  Speaker 1: not positive which, and in this form, always developing, they
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  Speaker 1: swam far to the south, where amid the rank and
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  Speaker 1: teeming jungles, some of them evolved into amphibians. Always there
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  Speaker 1: were those whose development stopped at the first stage, whose
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  Speaker 1: development ceased when they became reptiles. While by far the
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  Speaker 1: greater proportion formed the food supply of the ravenous creatures
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  Speaker 1: of the deep, few indeed were those that eventually developed
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  Speaker 1: into baboons and then apes, which was considered by Caspakians
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  Speaker 1: the real beginning of evolution. From the egg, then the
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  Speaker 1: individual developed slowly into a higher form, just as the
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  Speaker 1: frog's egg develops through various stages from a fish with
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  Speaker 1: gills to a frog with lungs. With that thought in mind,
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  Speaker 1: Bradley discovered that it was not difficult to believe in
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  Speaker 1: the possibility of such a scheme. There was nothing new
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  Speaker 1: in it. From the ape, the individual, if it survived,
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  Speaker 1: slowly developed into the lowest orderer of man, the Alu,
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  Speaker 1: and then by degrees to Bolu, Stolu, Bandloo, Crowleu, and
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  Speaker 1: finally Gallu, and in each stage countless millions of other
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  Speaker 1: eggs were deposited in the warm pools of the various
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  Speaker 1: races and floated down to the Great Sea to go
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  Speaker 1: through a similar process of evolution outside the womb as
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  Speaker 1: develops our own young within. But in Caspack the scheme
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  Speaker 1: is much more inclusive, for it combines not only individual development,
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  Speaker 1: but the evolution of species in genera. If an egg survives,
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  Speaker 1: it goes through all the stages of development that man
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  Speaker 1: has passed through during the unthinkable eons since life first
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  Speaker 1: moved upon the Earth's face. The final stage, that which
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  Speaker 1: the galous have almost attained and for which all hope
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  Speaker 1: is cosatloo, which literally means no egg man, or one
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  Speaker 1: who is born directly, as are the young of the
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  Speaker 1: outer world of mammals. Some of the galous produce cosattaloo
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  Speaker 1: and cosateloe, both the wirus only cosatloo. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: all wirus are born made, and so they prey upon
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  Speaker 1: the Galus for their women, and sometimes capture and torture
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  Speaker 1: the Galu men who are cosatlou in an endeavor to
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  Speaker 1: learn the secret, which they believe will give them unlimited
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  Speaker 1: power over all other denizens of cast back. No whirus
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  Speaker 1: come up from the beginning. All are born of the
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  Speaker 1: Wiru fathers and Galu mothers who are cossatloe, and there
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  Speaker 1: are very few of the latter, owing to the long
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  Speaker 1: and precarious stages of development. Seven generations of the same
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  Speaker 1: ancestor must come up from the beginning before a cossataloo
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  Speaker 1: child may be born. And when one considers the frightful
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  Speaker 1: dangers that surround the vital spark from the moment it
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  Speaker 1: leaves the warm pool where it has been deposited to
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  Speaker 1: float down to the sea, amid the voracious creatures that
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  Speaker 1: swarm the surface and the deeps, and the almost equally
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  Speaker 1: unthinkable trials of its effort to survive after it once
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  Speaker 1: becomes a land animal and starts northward through the horrors
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  Speaker 1: of the Caspakian jungles and forests. It is plainly a
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  Speaker 1: wonder that even a single babe has ever been borne
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  Speaker 1: to a Galou woman seven cycles it requires before the
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  Speaker 1: seventh Galu can complete the seventh danger infested circle, since
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  Speaker 1: its first Gallu ancestor achieved the state of galu for
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  Speaker 1: ages before the ancestors of this first galu may have
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  Speaker 1: developed from a Bandloo or Bolu egg without ever once
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  Speaker 1: completing the whole circle, that is, from a Gallou egg
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  Speaker 1: back to a fully developed Gallou. Bradley's head was whirling
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  Speaker 1: before he even commenced to grasp the complexities of Caspakian evolution.
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  Speaker 1: But as the truth slowly filtered into his understanding, as
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  Speaker 1: gradually it became possible for him to visualize the scheme,
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  Speaker 1: it appeared simpler. In fact, it seemed even less difficult
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  Speaker 1: of comprehension than that with which he was familiar. For
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  Speaker 1: several minutes after Antack's sea speaking, his voice having trailed
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  Speaker 1: off weakly into silence, neither spoke again. Then the galow
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  Speaker 1: recommenced his food.
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  Speaker 2: Food.
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  Speaker 1: There is a way out. Bradley tossed him another bit
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  Speaker 1: of dried meat, waiting patiently until he had eaten it,
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  Speaker 1: this time more slowly. What do you mean by saying
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  Speaker 1: there is a way out, he asked, He who died
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  Speaker 1: here just after I came told me, replied Antac. He
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  Speaker 1: said there was a way out, that he had discovered it,
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  Speaker 1: but was too weak to use his knowledge. He was
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  Speaker 1: trying to tell me how to find it when he
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: died old water. If he had lived but a moment more.
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  Speaker 1: They do not feed you here, asked Bradley. No, they
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  Speaker 1: give me water once a day, that is all. But
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: how have you lived? Then? The lizards and the rats,
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  Speaker 1: replied Antag. The lizards are not so bad, but the
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  Speaker 1: rats are foul to taste. However, I must eat them
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  Speaker 1: or they would eat me. And they are better than nothing.
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  Speaker 1: But of late they do not come so often, and
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  Speaker 1: I have not had a lizard for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: I shall eat, though, he mumbled, I shall eat now,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: for you cannot remain awake forever. He laughed, a cackling,
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  Speaker 1: dry laugh. When you sleep and Tac will eat. It
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  Speaker 1: was horrible. Bradley shuddered for a long time. Each sat
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  Speaker 1: in silence. The Englishman could guess why the other made
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: no sound. He awaited the moment that sleep should overcome
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: his victim. In the long silence, there was borne upon
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Bradley's ears a faint, monotonous sound, as of running water.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: He listened intently. It seemed to come from far beneath
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  Speaker 1: the floor. What is that noise, he asked, That sounds
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: like water running through a narrow channel. It is the river,
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  Speaker 1: replied Antac. Why do you not go to sleep? It
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: passes directly beneath the blue place of seven skulls. It
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: runs through the temple grounds, beneath the temple and under
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  Speaker 1: the city. When we die, they will cut off our
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: heads and throw our bodies into the river. At the
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: mouth of the river await many large reptiles. Thus do
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: they feed the weeirus do likewise with their own dead,
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  Speaker 1: keeping only the skulls and the wings come let us sleep.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: Do the reptiles come up the river into the city
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  Speaker 1: asked Bradley. The water is too cold. They never leave
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  Speaker 1: the warm water of the Great pool, replied Antac. Let
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: us search for the way out, suggested Bradley. Antac shook
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  Speaker 1: his head. I have searched for it all these moons,
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  Speaker 1: he said. If I could not find it, how would you.
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  Speaker 1: Bradley made no reply, but commenced a diligent examination of
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: the walls and floor of the room, Pressing over each
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: square foot and tapping with his knuckles. About six feet
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: from the floor, he discovered a sleeping perch near one
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: end of the apartment. He asked Dan Tac about it,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: but the Galou said that no Whiru had occupied the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: place since he had been incarcerated. There. Again and again,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Bradley went over the floor and walls as high up
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: as he could reach. Finally, he swung himself to the
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: perch that he might examine at least one end of
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the room all the way to the ceiling. In the
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: center of the wall, close to the top, an area
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: of about three feet square gave forth a hollow sound
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: when he rapped upon it. Bradley felt over every square
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: inch of that area with the tips of his fingers.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Near the top, he found a small round hole, a
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: track larger in diameter than his forefinger, which he immediately
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: stuck into it. The panel, if such it was, seemed
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: about an inch thick, and beyond it his finger encountered nothing.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: Bradley cooked his finger upon the opposite side of the
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: panel and pulled toward him steadily but with considerable force.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: Suddenly the panel flew inward, nearly precipitating the man to
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: the floor. It was hinged at the bottom, and when lord,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the outer edge rested upon the perch, making a little
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: platform parallel with the floor of the room. Beyond the
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: opening was an utterly dark void. The Englishman leaned through
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: it and reached his arm as far as possible into
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: the blackness, but touched nothing. Then he fumbled in his
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: haversack for a match, a few of which remained to him.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: When he struck it, antac gave a cry of terror.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Bradley held the light far into the opening before him,
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  Speaker 1: and in its flickering rays saw the top of a
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: ladder descending into a black abyss. Below. How far down
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: it extended he could not guess, but that he should
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: soon know definitely. He was positive. You have found it.
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  Speaker 1: You have found the way out, screamed antack old Water.
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  Speaker 1: And now I am too weak to go. Take me
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: with you. Take me with you, shut up, admonished Bradley.
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  Speaker 1: You will have the whole flock of birds around our
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: heads in a minute, and neither of us will escape.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Be quiet, and I'll go ahead. If I find a
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: way out, I'll come back and help you. If you'll
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: promise not to try to eat me up again, I promise,
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: cried antack old Water. How could you blame me? I
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: am half crazed of hunger and long confinement, and the
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: horror of the lizards and the rats, and the constant
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: waiting for death. I know, said Bradley, simply, I'm sorry
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: for you, Old Top. Keep a stiff upper lip, and
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: he slipped through the opening, found the ladder with his feet,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: closed the panel behind him, and started downward into the darkness.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Below him rose more and more distinctly the sound of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: running water. The air felt damp and cool. He could
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: see nothing of his surroundings, and felt nothing but the smooth,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: worn sides and rungs of the ladder, down which he
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: felt his way cautiously, lest a broken rung or a
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: misstep should hurl him downward. As he descended thus slowly,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: the ladder seemed interminable and the pit bottomless. Yet he realized,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: when at last he reached the bottom that he could
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: not have descended more than fifty feet. The bottom of
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the ladder rested on a narrow ledge, paved with what
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: felt like large round stones, but what he knew from
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: experience to be human skulls. He could not but marvel
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: as to where so many, countless thousands of the things
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: had come from, until he paused to consider that the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: infancy of cash back dated doubtlessly back into remote ages
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: far beyond what the outer world considered the beginning of
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: earthly time. For all these eons, the weirus might have
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: been collecting human skulls from their enemies and their own dead,
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: enough to have built an entire city of them. Feeling
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: his way along the narrow ledge, Bradley came presently to
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: a blank wall that stretched out over the water, swirling
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: beneath him as far as he could reach. Stooping, he
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: groped about with one hand, reaching down toward the surface
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: of the water, and discovered that the bottom of the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: wall arched above the stream. How much space there was
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: between the water and the arch, he could not tell
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: nor how deep the former. There was only one way
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: in which he might learn these things, and that was
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: to lure himself into the stream. For only an instant
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: he hesitated, weighing his chances. Behind him lay almost certainly
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the horrid fate of an tak before him, nothing worse
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: than a comparatively painless death by drowning. Holding his haversack
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: above his head with one hand, he lured his feet
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: slowly over the edge of the narrow platform. Almost immediately
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: he felt the swirling of cold water about his ankles,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and then, with a silent prayer, he let himself drop
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: gently into the stream. Great was Bradley's relief when he
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: found the water no more than waist deep, and beneath
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: his feet a firm gravel bottom. Feeling his way cautiously,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: he moved downward with the current, which was not so
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: strong as he had imagined from the noise of the
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: running water Beneath the first arch. He made his way,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: following the winding curvatures of the right hand wall. After
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: a few yards of progress, his hand came suddenly in
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: contact with a slimy thing clinging to the wall, a
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: thing that hissed and scuttled out of reach. What it
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: was the man could not know, But almost instantly there
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: was a splash in the water just ahead of him,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: and then another. On he went, passing beneath other arches,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: at varying distances, and always in utter darkness, unseen denizens
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: of this great sewer, disturbed by the intruder, splashed into
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: the water ahead of him, and wriggled away. Time and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: again his hand touched them, and never for an instant
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: could he be sure that at the next step some
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: gruesome thing might not attack him. He had strapped his
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: haversack about his neck, well above the surface of the water,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: and in his left hand he carried his knife. Other
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: precautions there were none to take. The monotony of the
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: blind trail was increased by the fact that from the
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: moment he had started from the foot of the ladder,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: he had counted his every step. He had promised to
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: return for antack if it proved humanly possible to do so,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: and he knew that in the blackness of the tunnel
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: he could locate the foot of the ladder in no
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: other way. He had taken two hundred and sixty nine steps. Afterward,
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: he knew that he should never forget that number. When
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: something bumped gently against him from behind. Instantly he wheeled about, and,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: with knife ready to defend himself, stretched forth his right
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: hand to push away the object that now had lodged
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: against his body. His fingers, feeling through the darkness, came
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: in contact with something cold and clammy. They passed to
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: and fro over the thing, until Bradley knew that it
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: was the face of a dead man floating upon the
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: surface of the stream. With an oath, he pushed his
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: gruesome companion out into mid stream to float on down
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: toward the great pool and the awaiting scavengers of the deep.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: At his four hundred and thirteenth step, another corpse bumped
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: against him. How many had passed him without touching, he
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: could not guess. But suddenly he experienced the sensation of
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: being surrounded by dead faces floating along with him, all
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: set in hideous grimaces, their dead eyes glaring at this
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: profaning alien who dared intrude upon the waters of this
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: River of the Dead, a horrid escort pregnant with dire
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: forebodings and with menace. Though he advanced very slowly. He
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: tried always to take steps of about the same length,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: so that he knew that though considerable time had elapsed,
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: yet he had really advanced no more than four hundred yards.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: When ahead he saw a lessening of the pitch darkness,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: and at the next turn of the stream his surroundings
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: became vaguely discernible. Above him was an arched roof, and
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: on either hand walls pierced at intervals by apertures covered
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: with wooden doors. Just ahead of him in the roof
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: of the aqueduct was a round, black hole about thirty
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: inches in diameter. His eyes still rested upon the opening
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: when there shot downward from it to the water below
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the naked body of a human being, which almost immediately
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: rose to the surface again and floated off down the stream.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: In the dim light, Bradley saw that it was a
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: dead whiru, from which the wings and the head had
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: been removed. A moment later, another headless body floated past.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Recalling what Antac had told him of the skull collecting
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: customs of the wiru, Bradley wondered how it happened that
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the first corpse he had encountered in the stream had
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: not been similarly mutilated. The farther he advanced now, the
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: lighter it became, the number of corpses was much smaller
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: than he had imagined, only two more passing him before.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: At six hundred steps, or about five hundred yards from
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the point he had taken to the stream, he came
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: to the end of the tunnel and looked out upon
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: sunlit water running between grassy banks. One of the last
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: corpses to pass him was still clothed in the white
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: robe of a whiru, blood stained over the headless neck
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: that it concealed. Drawing closer to the opening leading into
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: the bright daylight, Bradley surveyed what lay beyond. A short
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: distance before him, A large building stood in the center
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: of several acres of grass and tree covered ground spanning
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the stream, which disappeared through an opening in its foundation wall.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: From the large saucer shaped roof and the vivid colorings
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: of the various heterogeneous parts of the structure, he recognized
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: it as the temple past which he had been borne to,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: The blue place of seven skulls to and fro flew
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Weirus going to and from the temple. Others passed on
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: foot across the open grounds, assisting themselves with their great
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: wings so that they barely skimmed the earth. To leave
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: the mouth of the tunnel would have been to court
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: instant discovery and capture. But by what other avenue he
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: might escape, Bradley could not guess unless he retraced his
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: steps up the stream and sought egress from the other
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: end of the city. The thought of traversing that dark
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: and horror ridden tunnel for perhaps miles, he could not entertain.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: There must be some other way. Perhaps after dark he
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: could steal through the temple grounds and continue on down
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: stream until he had come beyond the city. And so
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: he stood and waited until his limbs became almost paralyzed
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: with cold, and he knew that he must find some
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: other plan for escape. A half formed decision to risk
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: an attempt to swim under water to the temple was crystallizing,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: in spite of the fact that any chance Wherroo flying
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: above the stream might easily see him. When again a
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: floating object bumped against him from behind and lodged across
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: his back. Turning quickly, he saw that the thing was
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: what he had immediately guessed it to be, a headless
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: and wingless weirrou corpse. With a grunt of disgust. He
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: was about to push it from him, when the white
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: garment enshrouding it suggested a bold plan to his resourceful brain.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Grasping the corpse by an arm, he tore the garment
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: from it, and then let the body float downward toward
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: the temple. With great care, he draped the robe about him.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: The bloody blots that had covered the severed neck he
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: arranged about his own head. His haversack he rolled as
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: tightly as possible, and stuffed beneath his coat over his breast.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Then he fell gently to the surface of the stream, and,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: lying upon his back, floated downward with the current and
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: out into the open sunlight. Through the weave of the cloth,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: he could distinguish large objects. He saw weiru flap dismally
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: above him. He saw the banks of the stream float
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: slowly past. He heard a sudden wail upon the right
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: hand shore, and his heart stood still lest his ruse
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: had been discovered. But never by a move of a
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: muscle did he betray that aught. But a cold lump
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: of clay floated there upon the bosom of the water,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: and soon, though it seemed an eternity to him, the
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: direct sunlight was blotted out, and he knew that he
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: had entered beneath the temple. Quickly he felt for bottom
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: with his feet, and as quickly stood erect, snatching the
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: bloody clammy cloth from his face. On both sides were
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: blank walls, and before him the river turned a sharp
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: corner and disappeared. Feeling his way cautiously forward, he approached
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: the turn and looked around the corner. To his left
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: was a low platform about a foot above the level
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: of the stream, and on to this he lost no
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: time in climbing, for he was soaked from head to foot, cold,
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: and almost exhausted. As he lay resting on the skull
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: paved shelf, he saw in the center of the vault
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: above the river another of those sinister round holes, through
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: which he momentarily expected to see a headless corpse shoot
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: downward in its last plunge to a watery grave. A
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: few feet along the platform, a closed door broke the
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: blankness of the wall. As he lay looking at it
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: and wondering what lay behind, his mind filled with fragments
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: of many wild schemes of escape, it opened, and a
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: white robed whiru stepped out upon the platform. The creature
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: carried a large wooden basin filled with rubbish. Its eyes
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: were not upon Bradley, who drew himself to a squatting
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: position and crouched as far back in the corner of
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: the niche in which the platform was set as he
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: could force himself. The Whirroo stepped to the edge of
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: the platform and dumped the rubbish into the stream. If
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: it turned away from him, as it started to retrace
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: its steps to the doorway, there was a small chance
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: that it might not see him, but if it turned
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: toward him, there was none at all. Brad held his breath.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: The Weirrou paused a moment, gazing down into the water.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Then it straightened up and turned toward the Englishman. Bradley
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: did not move. The weirrou stopped and stared intently at him.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: It approached him questioningly. Still, Bradley remained as though carved
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: as stone. The creature was directly in front of him.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: It stopped. There was no chance on earth that it
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: would not discover what he was. With the quickness of
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: a cat, Bradley sprang to his feet, and, with all
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: his strength, back by his heavy weight, struck the weirrou
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: upon the point of the chin. Without a sound, the
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: thing crumpled to the platform, while Bradley, acting almost instinctively
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: to the urge of the first love of nature, rolled
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: the inanimate body over the edge into the river. Then
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: he looked at the open doorway, crossed the platform and
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: peered within the apartment. Beyond what he saw was a
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: large room, dimly lighted, and about the side rows of
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: wooden vessels stacked one upon another. There was no wearero
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: in sight, so the Englishman entered. At the far end
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: of the room was another door, and as he crossed
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: toward it, he glanced into some of the vessels, which
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: he found were filled with dried fruits, vegetables, and fish.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Without more ado, he stuffed his pockets and his haversack full,
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: thinking of the poor creature awaiting his return in the
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: gloom of the Place of seven Skulls. When night came,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: he would return and fetch antack this far at least,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: But in the meantime it was his intention to reconnoiter
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: in the hope that he might discover some easier way
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: out of the city than that offered by the chilled,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: black channel of the ghastly river of corpses. Beyond the
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: farther door stretched a long passageway, from which closed doorways
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: led into other parts of the cellars of the temple.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: A few yards from the storeroom, a ladder rose from
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: the corridor through an aperture in the ceiling. Bradley paused
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: at the foot of it, debating the wisdom of further
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: investigation against a return to the river. But strong within
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: him was the sphere of exploration that had scattered his
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: race to the four corners of the earth. What new
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: mysteries lay hidden in the chambers about? The urge to
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: know was strong upon him, though his better judgment warned
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: him that the safer course lay in retreat. For a
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: moment he stood thus, running his fingers through his hair.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Then he cast discretion to the winds and began the
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: ascent in conformity with such weiru architecture as he had
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: already observed. The well through which the ladder rose continually
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: canted at an angle from the perpendicular at more or
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: less regular stages. It was pierced by apertures closed by doors,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: none of which he could open until he had climbed
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: fully fifty feet from the river level. Here he discovered
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: a door already ajar, opening into a large circular chamber,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: the walls and floors of which were covered with the
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: skins of wild beasts and with rugs of many colors.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: But what interested him most was the occupants of the room,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: a wiu and a girl of human proportions. She was
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: standing with her back against a column which rose from
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: the center of the apartment from floor to ceiling, a
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: hollow column about forty inches in diameter, in which he
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: could see an opening some thirty inches across. The girl's
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: side was toward Bradley, and her face averted, for she
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: was watching the Weiru, who was now advancing slowly toward her.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Talking as he came. Bradley could distinctly hear the words
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: of the creature, who was urging the girl to accompany
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: him to another weirrou city. Come with me, he.
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: Said, and you shall have your life. Remain here, and
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: he who speaks for Luata will claim you for his own.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: And when he is done with you, your skull will
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: bleach at the top of a tall staff, while your
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: body feeds the reptiles at the mouth of the river
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: of Death. Even though you bring into the world a female. Weiru,
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: Your fate will be the same if you do not
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: escape him, while with me you shall have life and food,
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: and none shall harm you.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: He was quite close to the girl when she replied
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: by striking him in the face with all her strength
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: until I am slain. She cried, I shall fight against you.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: All from the throat of the wharu issued that dismal
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: wail that Bradley had heard so often in the past.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: It was like a scream of pain smothered to a groan.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: And then the thing leaped upon the girl, its face
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: working in hideous grimaces as it clawed and beat her
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: to force her to the floor. The Englishman was upon
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: the point of entering to defender when a door at
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: the opposite side of the chamber opened to admit a
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: huge whiru clothed in entirely in red. At sight of
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: the two struggling upon the floor, the newcomer raised his
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: voice in a shriek of rage. Instantly, the whiru who
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: was attacking the girl leaped to his feet and faced
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: the other. I heard, screamed he who had just entered
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: the room.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: I heard, And when he who speaks for Lata shall
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: have heard, he paused and made a suggestive movement of
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: a finger.
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: Across his throat.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: He shall not hear.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: Returned the first weiru as with a powerful motion of
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: his great wings, he launched himself upon the red robed figure.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: The latter dodged the first charge, drew a wicked looking
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: curved blade from beneath its red robe, spread its wings,
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: and dived for its antagonist. Beating their wings, wailing and groaning,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: the two hideous things sparred for position. The white robed one,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: being unarmed, sought to grasp the other by the wrist
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: of its knife hand and by the throat, while the
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: latter hopped round on its dainty white feet, seeking and
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: opening for a mortal blow. Once it struck and missed,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: and then the other rushed in and clinched at the
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: same time, securing both the holes it sought. Immediately, the
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: two commenced, beating at each other's heads with the joints
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: of their wings, kicking with her soft, puny feet, and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: biting each at the other's face. In the meantime, the
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: girl moved about the room, keeping out of the way
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: of the duellis, and as she did so, Bradley caught
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of her full face, and immediately recognized her
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: as the girl of the place of the yellow Door.
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: He did not dare intervene now until one of the
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: wiru had overcome the other, lest the two should turn
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: upon him at once, when the chances were fair that
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: he would be defeated in so unequal a battle as
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: the curb blade of the red Wiru would render it.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: And so he waited, watching the white robe figure slowly
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: choking the life from him. Of the red robe, a
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: protruding tongue and the popping eyes proclaimed that the end
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: was near, and a moment later the red Robe sank
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: to the floor of the room, the curved blade slipping
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: from the nerveless fingers. For an instant longer, the victor
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: clung to the throat of his defeated antagonist, and then
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: he rose, dragging the body after him, and approached the
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: central column. Here he raised the body and thrust it
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: into the aperture, where Bradley saw it drop suddenly from sight.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Instantly there flashed into his memory the circular openings in
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: the roof of the river vault, and the corpses he
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: had seen drop from them to the water beneath. As
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: the body disappeared, the Wearoo turned and cast about the
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: room for the girl. For a moment he stood eyeing her.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: You saw, he muttered, and if you tell them, he.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: Who speaks for Luata will have my wings severed, while
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: still I live, and my head will be severed, and
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: I shall be cast into the river death. For thus
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: it happens even to the highest to slay one of
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: the red row. You saw, and you must die.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: He ended with a scream. As he rushed upon the girl.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Bradley waited no longer. Leaping into the room, he ran
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: for the Whiru, who had already seized the girl, And
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: as he ran, he stooped and picked up the curved blade.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: The creature's back was toward him, as with his left
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: hand he seized it by the neck like a flash.
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: The great wings beat backward as the creature turned, and
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: Bradley was swept from his feet, though he still retained
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: his hold upon the blade. Instantly the Weiru was upon him.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: Bradley lay slightly raised upon his left elbow, his right
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: arm free, and as the thing came close, he cut
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: at the hideous face with all the strength that lay
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: within him. The blade struck at the junction of the
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: neck and torsail, and with such force as to completely
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: decapitate the Whiru, the hideous head dropping to the floor
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: and the body falling forward upon the Englishman pushing it
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: from him. He rose to his feet and faced the
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: wide eyed girl. Luata, she exclaimed, how came you here?
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: Bradley shrugged. Here I am, he said, But the thing
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: now is to get out of here, both of us.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: The girl shook her head. It cannot be she stated, sadly.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: That is what I thought when they dropped me into
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: the blue Place of seven Skulls. Replied Bradley. Can't be done.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: I did it here. You are mussing up the floor.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Something awful. You This last to the dead, weiru as
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: he stooped and dragged the corpse to the central shaft,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: where he raised it to the aperture and let it
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: slip into the tube. Then he picked up the head
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: and tossed it after the body. Don't be so glum,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: he admonished the former, as he carried it toward the well. Smile.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: But how can he smile? Questioned the girl, a half puzzled,
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: half frightened look upon her face. He is dead. That's so,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: admitted Bradley, and I suppose he does feel a bit
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: cut up about it. The girl shook her head and
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: edged away from the man toward the door. Come, said
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: the Englishman. We've got to get out of here. If
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: you don't know a better way than the river, it's
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the river. Then the girl still eyed him, askance, But
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: how could he smile when he was dead? Bradley laughed aloud.
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: I thought we English were supposed to have the least
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: sense of humor of any people in the world, he cried,
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: But now I've found one human being who hasn't any
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: of course, you don't know half I'm saying. But don't worry,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: little girl. I'm not going to hurt you, and if
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: I can get you out of here, I'll do it.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: Even if she did not understand all he said, she
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: at least read something in his smiling countenance, something which
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: reassured her. I do not fear you, she said, though
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: I do not understand all that you say, even though
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: you speak my own tongue and huge words that I know.
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: But as for as escaping, she sighed, alas, how can
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: it be done? I escape from the blue Place of
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: seven skulls. Bradley reminded her. Come, and he turned toward
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: the shaft and the ladder that he had ascended from
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the river. We cannot waste time here. The girl followed him,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: but at the doorway both drew back, for from below
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: came the sound of some one ascending. Bradley tiptoed to
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: the door and peered cautiously into the well. Then he
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: stepped back beside the girl. There are half a dozen
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: of them coming up, but possibly they will pass this room. No,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: she said, they will pass directly through this room. They
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: are on their way to him who speaks for Luata.
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: We may be able to hide in the next room.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: There are skins there beneath which we may crawl. They
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: will not stop in that room, but they may stop
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: in this one for a short time. The other room
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: is blue. What's that got to do with it, demanded
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: the Englishman. They fear blue, she replied. In every room
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: where murder has been done, you will find blue, a
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: certain amount for each murder. When the room is all blue,
• 45:08
  Speaker 1: they shun it. This room has much blue, but evidently
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: they kill mostly in the next room, which is now
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: all blue. But there is blue on the outside of
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: every house I've seen, said Bradley. Yes, assented the girl.
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: And there are blue rooms in each of those houses.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: When all the rooms are blue, then the whole outside
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: of the house will be blue, as is the blue
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: place of seven skulls. There are many such here, and
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the skulls with blue upon them, inquired Bradley, did they
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: belong to murderers? They were murdered, some of them. Those
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: with only a small amount of blue were murderers, known murderers.
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: All wierus are murderers. When they have committed a certain
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: number of murders without being caught at it, they confess
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: to him who speaks for Luatta, and are advanced, after
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: which they wear with a slash of some color. I
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: think yellow comes first. When they reach a point where
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: the entire robe is of yellow, they discard it for
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: a white robe with a red slash. And when one
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: wins a complete red robe, he carries such a long
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: curved knife as you have in your hand. After that
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: comes the blue slash on a white robe. And then
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: I suppose an all blue robe. I have never seen
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: such an one. As they talked in low tones, they
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: had moved from the room of the death shaft into
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: an all blue room adjoining, where they sat down together
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: in a corner with their backs against the wall, and
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: drew a pile of hides over themselves. A moment later,
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: they heard a number of weirus enter the chamber. They
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: were talking together as they crossed the floor, or the
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: two could not have heard them. Half way across the chamber,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: they halted as the door toward which they were advancing
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: opened and a dozen others of their kind entered the apartment.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: Bradley could guess all this by the increased volume of
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: sound and the dismal greetings, but the sudden silence that
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: almost immediately ensued he could not fathom. For he could
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: not know that from beneath one of the hides that
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: covered him protruded one of his heavy army shoes, or
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: that some eighteen large weirus with robes either solid red
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: or slashed with red or blue, were standing gazing at it,
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: Nor could he hear their stealthy approach. The first intimation
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: he had that he had been discovered was when his
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: foot was suddenly seized and he was yanked violently from
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: beneath the hides to find himself surrounded by menacing blades.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: They would have slain him on the spot had not
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: one clothed. All in Red held them back, saying that
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: he who speaks for Luata desired to see this strange creature.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: As they led Bradley away, he caught an opportunity to
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: glance back toward the hides to see what had become
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: of the girl, and to his gratification, he discos governed
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: that she still lay concealed beneath the hides. He wondered
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: if she would have the nerve to attempt the river
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: trip alone, and regretted that now he could not accompany her.
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: He felt rather all in himself, more so than he
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: had at any time since he had been captured by
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: the Whiru, for there appeared not the slightest cause for
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: hope in his present predicament. He had dropped the curved
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: blade beneath the hides when he had been jerked so
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: violently from their fancied security. It was almost in a
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: spirit of resigned hopelessness that he quietly accompanied his captors
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: through various chambers and corridors towards the heart of the temple.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter three