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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four. The farther the group progressed, the more barbaric
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  Speaker 1: and the more sumptuous became the decorations. Hides of leopard
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  Speaker 1: and tiger predominated, apparently because of their more beautiful markings,
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  Speaker 1: and decorative skulls became more and more numerous. Many of
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  Speaker 1: the latter were mounted in precious metals and set with
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  Speaker 1: colored stones and priceless gems, while thick upon the hides
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  Speaker 1: that covered the walls were golden ornaments, similar to those
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  Speaker 1: worn by the girl and those which had filled the
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  Speaker 1: chests he had examined in the store room of foche Balsage,
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  Speaker 1: leading the Englishmen to the conviction that all such were
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  Speaker 1: spoils of war or theft, since each peace seemed made
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  Speaker 1: for personal adornment, while in so far as he had seen,
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  Speaker 1: no Weiru wore ornaments of any sort. And also as
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  Speaker 1: they advanced, the more numerous became the weirrous, Moving hither
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  Speaker 1: and thither within the temple, many now were the solid
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  Speaker 1: red robes, and those that were slashed with blue, a
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  Speaker 1: veritable hive of murderers. At last, the party halted in
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  Speaker 1: a room in which were many Weirus, who gathered about
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  Speaker 1: Bradley questioning his captors and examining him and his apparel.
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  Speaker 1: One of the party accompanying the Englishmen spoke to a
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  Speaker 1: Weiru that stood beside a door leading from the room.
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  Speaker 2: Tell him who speaks for Luata. He said that Fosche
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  Speaker 2: Balsage we could not find, but in returning we found
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  Speaker 2: this creature within the temple hiding. It must be the
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  Speaker 2: same that Fosche Balsage captured in the Stolou country during
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  Speaker 2: the last darkness. Doubtless he who speaks for Luata would
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  Speaker 2: wish to see and question this strange thing. The creature addressed,
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  Speaker 2: turned and slipped through the doorway, closing the door after it,
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  Speaker 2: but first depositing its curved blade upon the floor without
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  Speaker 2: its post. Was immediately taken by another, and Bradley now
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  Speaker 2: saw that at least twenty such guards loitered in the
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  Speaker 2: immediate vicinity. The door keeper was gone but for a moment,
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  Speaker 2: and when he returned, he signified that Bradley's party was
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  Speaker 2: to enter the next chamber, But first each of the
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  Speaker 2: weirrous removed his curved weapon and laid it upon the floor.
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  Speaker 2: The door was swung open, and the party now reduced
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  Speaker 2: to Bradley and five weirus was ushered across the threshold
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  Speaker 2: into a large, irregularly shaped room in which a single
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  Speaker 2: giant whiru, whose robe was solid blue, sat upon a
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  Speaker 2: raised dais. The creature's face was white with the whiteness
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  Speaker 2: of a cortz, its dead eyes entirely expressionless, its cruel
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  Speaker 2: thin lips tight drawn against yellow teeth in a perpetual grimace.
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  Speaker 2: Upon either side of it lay an enormous curved sword,
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  Speaker 2: similar to those with which some of the other whirus
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  Speaker 2: had been armed, but larger and heavier. Constantly its claw
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  Speaker 2: like fingers played with one or the other of these weapons.
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  Speaker 2: The walls of the chamber, as well as the floor,
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  Speaker 2: were entirely hidden by skins and woven fabrics. Blue predominated
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  Speaker 2: in all the colorations. Fastened against the hides were many
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  Speaker 2: pairs of Wiru wings, mounted so that they resembled long
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  Speaker 2: black shields. Upon the ceiling were painted in blue characters,
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  Speaker 2: a bewildering series of hieroglyphics, and upon pedestals. Set against
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  Speaker 2: the walls or standing out well within the room were
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  Speaker 2: many human skulls. As the wirus approached the figure upon
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  Speaker 2: the dais, they leaned far forward, raising their wings above
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  Speaker 2: their heads and stretching their necks, as though offering them
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  Speaker 2: to the sharp swords of the grim and hideous creature.
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  Speaker 2: O thou who speakest for the water, exclaimed one of
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  Speaker 2: the party, We bring you the strange creature that Fouchepalsage
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  Speaker 2: captured and brought thither at thy command. So this, then,
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  Speaker 2: was the godlike figure that spoke for divinity. This arch
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  Speaker 2: murderer was the Caspakian representative of God on earth.
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  Speaker 1: His blue robe announced him the one, and the seeming
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  Speaker 1: humility of his minions the other. For a long minute
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  Speaker 1: he glared at Bradley. Then he began to question him.
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  Speaker 1: From whence he came and howl? The name and description
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  Speaker 1: of his native country, and a hundred other queries. Are
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  Speaker 1: your cossackleloo, the creature asked. Bradley replied that he was,
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  Speaker 1: and that all his kind were, as well as every
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  Speaker 1: living thing in his part of the world.
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  Speaker 2: Can you tell me the secret?
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  Speaker 1: Asked the creature. Bradley hesitated, and then, thinking to gain time,
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  Speaker 1: replied in the affirmative. What is it? Demanded the wearu,
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  Speaker 1: leaning far forward and exhibiting every evidence of excited interest.
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  Speaker 1: Bradley leaned forward and whispered, it is for your ears alone.
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  Speaker 1: I will not divulge it to others, and then only
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  Speaker 1: on condition that you carry me and the girl I
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  Speaker 1: saw in the place of the yellow door near to
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  Speaker 1: that of foss Balsage back to her own country. The
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  Speaker 1: thing rose in wrath, holding one of its swords above
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  Speaker 1: its head.
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  Speaker 2: Who are you to make terms for him who speaks
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  Speaker 2: for Lotta, it shrilled, Tell me the secret, or die where.
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  Speaker 1: You stand, and if I die now, the secret goes
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  Speaker 1: with me. Bradley reminded him. Never again will you get
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to question another of my kind who knows
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  Speaker 1: the secret. Anything to gain time to get the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the wirus from the room, that he might plan
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  Speaker 1: some scheme for escape and put it into effect. The
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  Speaker 1: creature turned upon the leader of the party that had
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  Speaker 1: brought Bradley.
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  Speaker 2: Is the thing with weapons?
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  Speaker 1: It asked? No, was the response.
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  Speaker 2: Then go, but tell the guard to remain close.
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  Speaker 1: By, commanded the high one. The wierus salaamed and withdrew,
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  Speaker 1: closing the door behind them. He who speaks for Luata
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  Speaker 1: grasped a sword nervously in his right hand. At his
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  Speaker 1: left side lay the second weapon. It was evident that
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  Speaker 1: he lived in constant dread of being assassinated. The fact
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  Speaker 1: that he permitted none with weapons within his presence, and
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  Speaker 1: that he always kept two swords at his side pointed
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  Speaker 1: to this. Bradley was racking his brain to find some
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  Speaker 1: suggestion of a plan whereby he might turn the situation
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  Speaker 1: to his own account. His eyes wandered past the weird
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  Speaker 1: figure before him. They played about the walls of the apartment,
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  Speaker 1: as though hoping to draw inspiration from the dead skulls
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  Speaker 1: and the hides and the wings. And then they came
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  Speaker 1: back to the face of the weiroo god, now working
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  Speaker 1: in anger, quick screamed the thing the secret? Will you
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  Speaker 1: give me and the girl our freedom? Insisted Bradley. For
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  Speaker 1: an instant the thing hesitated, and then it grumbled yes.
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  Speaker 1: At the same instant Bradley saw two hides upon the
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  Speaker 1: wall to directly back of the dais, separate, and a
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  Speaker 1: face appear in the opening. No change of expression, and
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  Speaker 1: upon the Englishman's countenance betrayed that he had seen aught
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  Speaker 1: to surprise him, though surprised he was, for the face
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  Speaker 1: in the aperture was that of the girl he had
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  Speaker 1: but just left hidden beneath the hides in another chamber.
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  Speaker 1: A white and shapely arm now pushed past the face
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  Speaker 1: into the room, and in the hand, tightly clutched, was
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  Speaker 1: the curved blade, smeared with blood, that Bradley had dropped
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  Speaker 1: beneath the hides at the moment he had been discovered
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  Speaker 1: and drawn from his concealment. Listen, then, said Bradley, in
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  Speaker 1: a low voice to the Wearu, you shall know the
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  Speaker 1: secret of Cossattledoo as well as do I, but none
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  Speaker 1: other may hear it? Lean close, I will whisper it
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  Speaker 1: into your ear. He moved forward and stepped upon the dais.
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  Speaker 1: The creature raised its sword, ready to strike at the
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  Speaker 1: first indication of treachery, and Bradley stooped beneath the blade
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  Speaker 1: and put his ear close to the gruesome face. As
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  Speaker 1: he did so, he rested his weight upon his hands,
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  Speaker 1: one upon either side of the Weiru's body, his right
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  Speaker 1: hand upon the hilt of the spare sword lying at
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  Speaker 1: the left of him who speaks for Luata, This then
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  Speaker 1: is the secret of both life and death, he whispered,
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  Speaker 1: and at the same instant he grasped the Weiru by
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  Speaker 1: the right wrist, and with his own right hand swung
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  Speaker 1: the extra blade in a sudden, vicious blow against the
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  Speaker 1: creature's neck before the thing could give even a single
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  Speaker 1: cry of alarm. Then, without waiting an instant, Bradley leaped
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  Speaker 1: past the dead god and vanished behind the hides that
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  Speaker 1: had hidden the girl. Wide eyed and panting, the girl
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  Speaker 1: seized his arm. Oh what have you done, she cried?
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  Speaker 1: He who speaks for Luata will be avenged by Luata. Now, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: must you die? There is no escape, for even though
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  Speaker 1: we reached my own country, Luata can find you out, bash,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Bradley. And then, but you were going to knife
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  Speaker 1: him yourself, then I alone should have died, she replied.
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  Speaker 1: Brad scratched his head. Neither of us is going to die,
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  Speaker 1: he said, at least not at the hands of any god.
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  Speaker 1: If we don't get out of here, though, we'll die
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  Speaker 1: right enough. Can you find your way back to the
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  Speaker 1: room where I first came upon you in the temple?
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  Speaker 1: I know the way, replied the girl, but I doubt
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  Speaker 1: if we can go back without being seen. I came
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  Speaker 1: hither because I only met Girus, who knew that I
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  Speaker 1: am supposed now to be in the temple. But you
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  Speaker 1: could go elsewhere without being discovered. Bradley's ingenuity had come
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  Speaker 1: up against a stone wall. There seemed no possibility of escape.
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  Speaker 1: He looked about him. They were in a small room
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  Speaker 1: where lay a litter of rubbish, torn bits of cloth,
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  Speaker 1: old hives, pieces of fiber rope. In the center of
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  Speaker 1: the room was a cylindrical shaft with an opening in
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  Speaker 1: its face. Bradley knew it for what it was. Here
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  Speaker 1: the arch fiend dragged his victims and cast their bodies
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  Speaker 1: into the river of death far below. The floor about
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  Speaker 1: the opening in the shaft and the sides of the
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  Speaker 1: shaft were clotted thick with a dried, dark brown substance
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  Speaker 1: that the Englishman knew had once been blood. The place
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  Speaker 1: had the appearance of having been a veritable shambles. An
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  Speaker 1: odor of decaying flesh permeated the air. The Englishman crossed
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  Speaker 1: to the shaft and peered into the opening. All below
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  Speaker 1: was dark as pitch, but at the bottom he knew
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  Speaker 1: was the river. Suddenly, an inspiration and a bold scheme
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  Speaker 1: leaped to his mind. Turning quickly, he hunted about the
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  Speaker 1: room until he found what he sought. A quantity of
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  Speaker 1: the rope that lay strewn here and there with rapid fingers,
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  Speaker 1: he unsnarled the different lengths, the girl helping him, and
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  Speaker 1: then he tied the ends together until he had three
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  Speaker 1: ropes about seventy five feet in length. He fastened these
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  Speaker 1: together at each end, and without a word, secured one
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  Speaker 1: of the ends about the girl's body beneath her arms.
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  Speaker 1: Don't be frightened, he said at length, as he led
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  Speaker 1: her toward the opening in the shaft. I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: lower you to the river, and then I'm coming down
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  Speaker 1: after you when you are safe below. Give two quick
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  Speaker 1: jerks upon the rope. If there is danger there and
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  Speaker 1: you want me to draw you up into the shaft,
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  Speaker 1: jerk once. Don't be afraid. It is the only way.
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  Speaker 1: I am not afraid, replied the girl, rather haughtily Bradley thought,
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  Speaker 1: and herself climbed through the aperture and hung by her hands,
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  Speaker 1: waiting for Bradley to lower her as rapidly as was
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  Speaker 1: consistent with safety. The man paid out the rope. When
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  Speaker 1: it was about half out. He heard loud cries and
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  Speaker 1: wails suddenly arise within the room they had just quitted.
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  Speaker 1: The slaying of their god had been discovered by the
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  Speaker 1: weirus A search for the slayer would begin at once lord,
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  Speaker 1: would the girl never reach the river? At last, just
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: as he was positive that searchers were already entering the
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  Speaker 1: room behind him, there came two quick tugs at the rope. Instantly,
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  Speaker 1: Bradley made the rest of the strands fast about the shaft,
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  Speaker 1: slipped into the black tube, and began a hurried descent
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  Speaker 1: toward the river. An instant later, he stood waist deep
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  Speaker 1: in water beside the girl. Impulsively, she reached toward him
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  Speaker 1: and grasped his arm. A strange thrill ran through him
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  Speaker 1: at the contact, but he only cut the rope from
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  Speaker 1: about her body and lifted her to the little shelf
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  Speaker 1: at the river's side. How can we leave here, she asked,
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  Speaker 1: By the river, he replied, But first I must go
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  Speaker 1: back to the blue Place of seven Skulls and get
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  Speaker 1: the poor devil I left there. I will have to
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  Speaker 1: wait until after dark, though, as I cannot pass through
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  Speaker 1: the open stretch of river in the Temple gardens by day.
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  Speaker 1: There is another way, said the girl. I have never
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  Speaker 1: seen it, but often I have heard them speak of it.
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  Speaker 1: A corridor that runs beside the river from one end
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  Speaker 1: of the city to the other through the gardens. It
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  Speaker 1: is below ground. If we could find an entrance to it,
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  Speaker 1: we could leave here at once. It is not safe here,
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  Speaker 1: for they will search every inch of the temple and
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  Speaker 1: the grounds. Come, said Bradley. We'll have a look for
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  Speaker 1: it anyway, And so saying, he approached one of the
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  Speaker 1: doors that opened onto the skull paved shelf. They found
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  Speaker 1: the corridor easily, for it paralleled the river, separated from
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  Speaker 1: it only by a single wall. It took them beneath
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  Speaker 1: the gardens and the city, always through inky darkness. After
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  Speaker 1: they had reached the other side of the gardens, Bradley
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  Speaker 1: counted his steps until he had retraced as many as
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  Speaker 1: he had taken coming down the stream. But though they
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  Speaker 1: had to grope their way along, it was a much
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  Speaker 1: more rapid trip than the former. When he thought he
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: was about opposite the point at which he had descended
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  Speaker 1: from the Blue Place of seven Skulls, he sought and
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: found a doorway leading out on to the river, and then,
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  Speaker 1: still in the blackest darkness, he lured himself into the
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  Speaker 1: stream and fell up and down upon the opposite side
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  Speaker 1: for the little shelf and the ladder, ten yards from
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  Speaker 1: where he had emerged. He found them, while the girl
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  Speaker 1: waited upon the opposite side to ascend. The secret panel
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  Speaker 1: was the work of but a minute. Here he paused
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  Speaker 1: and listened, lest the Weiru might be visiting the prison
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  Speaker 1: in search of him or the other inmate. But no
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  Speaker 1: sound came from the gloomy interior. Bradley could not but
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: muse upon the joy of the man on the opposite side,
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: when he should drop down to him with food and
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: a new hope for escape. Then he opened the panel
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  Speaker 1: and looked into the room. The faint light from the
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: grating above revealed the pile of rags in one corner,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: but the man lay beneath them. He made no response
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: to Bradley's low greeting. The Englishman lured himself to the
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  Speaker 1: floor of the room and approached the rags. Stooping, he
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: lifted a corner of them. Yes, there was the man asleep.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Bradley shook him. There was no response. He stooped lore,
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  Speaker 1: and in the dim light examined the antack. Then he
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: stood up with a sigh. A rat leaped from beneath
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  Speaker 1: the coverings and scurried away. Poor devil, muttered Bradley. He
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: crossed the room to swing himself to the perch, preparatory
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  Speaker 1: to quitting the blue place of seven skulls. Forever beneath
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  Speaker 1: the perch, he paused. I'll not give them the satisfaction,
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: he growled, let them believe that he escaped. Returning to
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the pile of rags, he gathered the man into his arms.
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  Speaker 1: It was difficult work raising him to the high perch
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  Speaker 1: and dragging him through the small opening and thus down
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  Speaker 1: the ladder, but presently it was done, and Bradley had
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: lured the body into the river and cast it off.
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  Speaker 1: Good Bye, old Top, he whispered. A moment later he
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: had rejoined the girl, and hand in hand, they were
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: following the dark corridor upstream toward the farther end of
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  Speaker 1: the city. She told him that the weirrou seldom frequented
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: these lower passages, as the air here was too chill
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: for them, But occasionally they came, and as they could
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: see quite as well by night as by day, they
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: would be sure to discover Bradley and the girl. If
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: they come close enough, She said, we can see their
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: eyes shining in the dark. They resemble dull splotches of light.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: They glow but do not blaze. Like the eyes of
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: the tiger or the lion. The man could not but
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: note the very evident horror with which she mentioned the creatures.
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  Speaker 1: To him, they were uncanny, but she had been used
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  Speaker 1: to them for a year almost and probably all her life.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: She had either seen or heard of them constantly. Why
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: do you fear them, so he asked, It seems more
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: than an ordinary fear of the harm they can do you.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: She tried to explain, but the nearest he could gather
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: was that she looked upon the whiru almost as supernatural beings.
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  Speaker 1: There is a legend current among my people that once
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the whiru were unlike us, only in that they possessed
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: rudimentary wings. They lived in villages in the Gallou country,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and while the two peoples often warred, they held no
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: hatred for one another. In those days, each race came
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  Speaker 1: up from the beginning, and there was great rivalry as
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  Speaker 1: to which was the higher in the scale of evolution.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: The Wiru developed the first cossatloo, but they were always male,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: never could they reproduce women. Slowly, they commenced to develop
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  Speaker 1: certain attributes of the mind, which they considered placed them
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: upon a still higher level, and which gave them many
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  Speaker 1: advantages over us, seeing which they thought only of mental development.
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  Speaker 1: Their minds became like stars and the rivers, moving always
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: in the same manner, never varying. They called this tasad,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: which means doing everything the right way, or in other words,
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  Speaker 1: the Weiru way. If foe or friend, right or wrong,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: stood in the way of Tasad, then it must be crushed.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Soon the galows and the lesser races of men came
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  Speaker 1: to hate and fear them. It was then that the
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: wirus decided to carry Tasad into every part of the world.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: They were very warlike and very numerous, although they had
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: long since adopted the policy of slaying all those among
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: them whose wings did not show advanced development. It took
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: ages for all this to happen. Very slowly came the
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: different changes. But at last the weirus had wings they
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: could use. But by reason of always making war upon
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: their neighbors, they were hated by every creature of cashpack,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: for no one wanted their tasad, and so they used
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: their wings to fly to this island when the other
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: races turned against them and threatened to kill them all.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: So cruel had they become, and so bloodthirsty that they
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: no longer had hearts that beat with love or sympathy.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: But their very cruelty and wickedness kept them from conquering
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: the other races, since they were all so cruel and
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: wicked to one another, so that no weiru trusted another.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Always were they slaying those above them, that they might
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: rise in power and possessions, Until at last came the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: more powerful than the others, With a tacad all his own.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: He gathered about him a few of the most terrible rearus,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and among them they made laws which took from all
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: but these few weeros every weapon they possessed. Now their
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: tasait has reached a high plain. Among them they make
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: many wonderful things that we cannot make. They think great thoughts,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: no doubt, and still dream of greatness to come. But
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: their thoughts and their acts are regulated by ages of custom.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: They are all alike, and they are most unhappy. As
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the girl talked, the two moved steadily along the dark
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: passageway beside the river. They had advanced a considerable distance
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: when there sounded, faintly from far ahead, the muffled roar
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: of falling water, which increased in volume as they moved
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: forward until at last it filled the corridor with a
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: deafening sound. Then the corridor ended in a blank wall,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: but in a niche. To the right was a ladder
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: leading aloft, and to the left was a door opening
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: on to the river. Bradley he tried the ladder first,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: and as he opened it felt a heavy spray against
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: his face. The little shelf outside the doorway was wet
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and slippery, the roaring of the water tremendous. There could
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: be but one explanation. They had reached the waterfall in
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the river, and if the corridor actually terminated here, their
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: escape was effectually cut off. Since it was quite evidently
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: impossible to follow the bed of the river and ascend
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the falls. As the ladder was the only alternative, the
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: two turned toward it, and the man first began the ascent,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: which was through a well similar to that which had
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: led him to the upper floors of the temple. As
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: he climbed, Bradley felt for openings in the side of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the shaft, but he discovered none below fifty feet. The
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: first he came to was Ajar, letting a faint light
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: into the well. As he paused, the girl climbed to
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: his side, and together they looked through the crack into
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: a low sealed chamber, in which were several galoo women
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: and an equal number of hideous little replicas of the
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: full grown weirus, with which Bradley was not quite familiar.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: He could feel the body of the girl pressed close
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: to his tremble as her eyes rested upon the inmates
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: of the room, and involuntarily his arm encircled her shoulders,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: as though to protect her from some danger which he
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: sensed without recognizing. Poor things, she whispered, this is their
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: horrible fate, to be imprisoned here beneath the surface of
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: the city, with their hideous offspring, whom they hate as
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: they hate their fathers. A weiru keeps his children thus
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: hidden until they are full grown, lest they be murdered
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: by their fellows. The lower rooms of the city are
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: filled with many such as these. Several feet above was
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: a second door, beyond which they found a small room
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: stored with food in wooden vessels. A grated window in
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: one wall opened above an alley, and through it they
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: could see that they were just below the roof of
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the building. Darkness was coming, and at Bradley's suggestion, they
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: decided to remain hidden here until after dark, and then
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: to ascend to the roof and reconnoiter. Shortly after they
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: had settled themselves, they heard something descending the ladder from above.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: They hoped that it would continue on down the well,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: and fairly held their breath as the sound approached the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: door to the storeroom. Their hearts sank as they heard
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the door open, and from between cracks in the vessels
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: behind which they hid, saw a yellow slashed whiru enter
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the room. Each recognized him immediately, the girl indicating the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: fact of her own recognition by a sudden pressure of
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: her fingers on Bradley's arm. It was the Weiru of
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the yellow slashing, whose abode was the place of the
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: yellow door in which Bradley had first seen the girl.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: The creature carried a wooden bowl, which it filled with
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: dried food from several of the vessels, then turned and
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: quit the room. Bradley could see through the partially opened
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: doorway that it descended the ladder. The girl told him
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: that it was taking the food to the women and
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the young below, and that while it might return immediately,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: the chances were that it would remain for some time.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: We are just below the place of the yellow door.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: She said. It is far from the edge of the city,
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: so far that we may not hope to escape if
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: we ascend to the roofs here. I think, replied the man,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: that of all the places in u Oh, this will
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: be the easiest to escape from. Anyway. I want to
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: return to the place of the yellow door and get
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: my pistol if it is there. It is still there,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: replied the girl. I saw it placed in a chest
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: where he keeps the things he takes from his prisoners
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: and victims, good, explained Bradley. Now come quickly, and the
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: two crossed the room to the well and descended the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: ladder a short distance to its top, where they found
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: another door that opened into a vacant room, the same
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: in which Bradley had first met the girl. To find
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the pistol was a matter of but a moment's search
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: on the part of Bradley's companion, and then at the
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: englishman's signal, she followed him to the yellow door. It
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: was quite dark without as the two entered the narrow
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: passage between two buildings. A few steps brought them undiscovered
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: to the doorway of the store room, where lay the
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: body of foche balsage. In the distance towards the temple,
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: they could hear sounds as of a great gathering of weirus,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the peculiar uncanny wailing rising above the dismal flapping of
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: countless wings. They have heard of the killing of him
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: who speaks for Luata, whispered the girl. Soon they will
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: spread in all directions, searching for us. And will they
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: find us as surely as Luire gives light by day,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: she replied. And when they find us, they will tear
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: us to pieces. For only the Weiru's may murder, only
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: they may practice tasad, But they will not kill you,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: said Bradley. You did not slay him. It will make
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: no difference, she insisted. If they find us together, they
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: will slay us both. Then they won't find us together,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: announced Bradley decisively. You stay right here. You won't be
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: any worse off than before I came. And I'll get
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: as far as I can and account for as many
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: of the beggars as possible before they get me. Good Bye.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: You're a mighty decent little girl. I wish that I
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: might have helped you. No, she cried, do not leave me.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: I would rather die. I had hoped and hoped to
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: find some way to return to my own country. I
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: wanted to go back to Antac, who must be very
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: lonely without me. But I know that it never can be.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: It is difficult to kill hope, though mine is nearly dead.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Do not leave me, Antac. Bradley repeated, you loved a
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: man called Antac, Yes, replied the girl. An Tak was
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: away hunting when the Whiru caught me. How he must
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: have grieved for me. He also was Cosataloup, twelve moons
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: older than I, and all our lives we have been together.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Bradley remained silent, so she loved Antac. He hadn't the
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: heart to tell her that an Tak had died or how.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: At the door of foshe Balsage's store room, they halted
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: to listen. No sound came from within, and gently Bradley
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: pushed open the door. All was inky darkness as they entered,
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: but presently their eyes became accustomed to the gloom that
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: was partially relieved by the soft starlight. Without the Englishman
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: searched and found those things for which he had come.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Two robes, two pairs of dead wings, and several lengths
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: of fiber rope. One pair of the wings he adjusted
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: to the girl's shoulders by means of the rope. Then
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: he draped the robe of her, carrying the cowl over
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: her head. He heard her gasp of astonishment when she
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: realized the ingenuity and boldness of his plan. Then he
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: directed her to adjust the other pair of wings and
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the robe upon him. Working with strong, deft fingers. She
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: soon had the work completed, and the two stepped out
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: upon the roof to all intent and purpose, genuine weirus.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Beside his pistol, Bradley carried the sword of the slain
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Wiru prophet, while the girl was armed with the small
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: blade of the red Wairu. Side by side, they walked
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: slowly across the roof toward the north edge of the city.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: Weirus flapped above them, and several times they passed others
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: walking or sitting upon the roofs from the temple still rose,
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: the sounds of commotion, now pierced by occasional shrill screams.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: The murderers are abroad, whispered the girl. Thus will another
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: become the tongue of Luata. It is well for us,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: since it keeps them too busy to give the time
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: for searching for us. They think that we cannot escape
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the city, and they know that we cannot leave the island,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: and so do I. Bradley shook his head. If there
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: is any way we will find it, he said. There
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: is no way, replied the girl. Bradley made no response,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: and in silence they continued until the outer edge of
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: roofs was visible before them. We are almost there, he whispered.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: The girl felt for his fingers and pressed them. He
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: could feel hers trembling as he returned the pressure. Nor
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: did he relinquish her hand, and thus they came to
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the edge of the last roof. Here they halted and
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: looked about them. To be seen attempting to descend to
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: the ground below would be to betray the fact that
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: they were not weirus. Bradley wished that their wings were
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: attached to their bodies by sinew and muscle, rather than
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: by ropes of fiber. A weiru was flapping far overhead.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Two more stood near a door a few yards distant.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Standing between these and one of the outer pedestals that
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: supported one of the numerous skulls, Bradley made one end
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: of a piece of rope fast about the pedestal and
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: dropped the other end to the ground outside the city.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: Then they waited. It was an hour before the coast
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: was entirely clear, and then a moment came when no
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: wearu was in sight. Now whispered Bradley, and the girl
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: grasped the rope and slid over the edge of the
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: roof into the darkness below. A moment later, Bradley felt
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: two quick pulls upon the rope and immediately followed to
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: the girl's side. Across a narrow clearing, they made their
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: way and into a wood beyond. All night they walked,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: following the river upward toward its source, and at dawn
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: they took shelter in a thicket beside the stream. At
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: no time did they hear the cry of a carnivore,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: and though many startled animals fled as they approached, they
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: were not once menaced by a wild beast. When Bradley
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: expressed surprise at the absence of the fiercest beasts that
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: are so numerous upon the mainland of Coprona, the girl
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: explained the reason that is contained in one of their
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: ancient legends. When the rear us first developed wings upon
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: which they could fly. They found this island devoid of
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: any life other than a few reptiles that live either
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: upon land or in the water, and these only close
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: to the coast. Requiring meat for food, the wearerus carried
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: to the island such animals as they wished for that purpose.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: They still occasionally bring them, and this, with the natural increase,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: keeps them provided with flesh, as it will us, suggested Bradley.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: The first day they remained in hiding, eating only the
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: dried food that Bradley had brought with him from the
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: temple's store room, and the next night they set out
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: again upon the river, continuing steadily on until almost dawn,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: when they came to Low Hills, where the river wound
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: through a gorge. It was little more than rivulet now,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: the water clear and cold, and filled with fish similar
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: to brook trout, though much larger. Not Wishing to leave
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: the stream, the two waded along its bed to a
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: spot where the gorge widened between perpendicular bluffs to a
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: wooded acre of level land. Here they stopped, for here
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: also the stream ended. They had reached its source. Many
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: cold springs bubbling up from the center of a little
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: natural amphitheater in the hills and forming a clear and
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: beautiful pool, overshadowed by trees upon one side and bounded
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: by a little clearing upon the other. With the coming
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: of the sun, they saw they had stumbled upon a
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: place where they might remain hidden from the weirus for
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: a long time, and also one that they could defend
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: against these winged creatures. Since the trees would shield them
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: from an attack from above and also hamper the movements
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: of the creatures, they attempt to follow them into the wood.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: For three days they rested here before trying to explore
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: the neighboring country. On the fourth Bradley stated that he
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: was going to scale the bluffs and learn what lay beyond.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: He told the girl that she should remain in hiding,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: but she refused to be left, saying that whatever fate
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: was to be his, she intended to share it, so
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: that he was at last forced to permit her to
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: come with him through woods. At the summit of the bluff,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: they made their way toward the north, and had gone
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: but a short distance when the wood ended, and before
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: them they saw the waters of the inland Sea, and
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: dimly in the distance the coveted shore the beach lay
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: some two hundred yards from the foot of the hill
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: on which they stood, Nor was there a tree nor
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: any other form of shelter between them and the water,
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: as far up and down the coast as they could see.
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Among other plans, Bradley had thought of constructing a covered
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: raft upon which they might drift to the mainland. But
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: as such a contrivance would necessarily be of considerable weight,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: it must be built in the water of the sea,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: since they could not hope to move it even a
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: short distance overland. If this wood was only at the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: edge of the water, he sighed. But it is not,
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: the girl reminded him. And then let us make the
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: best of it. We have escaped from death for a time.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: At least we have food and good water, and peace
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: and each other. What more could we have upon the mainland.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: But I thought you wanted to get back to your
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: own country, he exclaimed. She cast her eyes upon the
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: ground and half turned away. I do, she said, Yet
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: I am happy here. I could be little happier there.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: Bradley stood in silent thought. We have food and good water,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: and peace and each other, he repeated to himself. He
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: turned then and looked at the girl and it was
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: as though in the day that they had been together,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: this was the first time that he had really seen her.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: The circumstances that had thrown them together, the dangers through
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: which they had passed, all the weird and horrible surroundings
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: that had formed the background of his knowledge of her,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: had had their effect. She had been but the companion
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: of an adventure. Her self, reliance, her endurance, her loyalty
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: had been only what one man might take spect of another.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: And he saw that he had unconsciously assumed an attitude
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: toward her that he might have assumed toward a man.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Yet there had been a difference. He recalled now the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: strange sensation of elation that had thrilled him upon the
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: occasions when the girl had pressed his hand in hers,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: and the depression that had followed her announcement of her
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: love for Antac. He took a step toward her. A
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: fierce yearning to seize her and crush her in his
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: arms swept over him, and then their flash upon the
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: screen of recollection, the picture of a stately hall set
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: amidst broad gardens and ancient trees, and of a proud
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: old man with beetling brows an old man who held
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: his head very high, and Bradley shook his head and
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: turned away again. They went back then to their little acre,
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: and the days came and went, And the man fashioned
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: spear and bow and arrows, and hunted with them that
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: they might have meat. And he made hooks of fish bone,
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: and caught fishes with wondrous flies of his own invention.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: And the girl gathered fruits and cooked the flesh and
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: the fish, and made beds of branches and soft grasses.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: She cured the hides of the animals he killed, and
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: made them soft by much pounding. She made sandals for
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: herself and for the man, and fashioned a hide after
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: the manner of those worn by the warriors of her tribe,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: and made the man wear it, for his own garments
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: were in rags. She was always the same, sweet and
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: kind and helpful, but always there was about her manner
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: and her expression just a trace of wistfulness. And often
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: she sat and looked at the man when he did
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: not know it, her brows puckered in thought, as though
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: she were trying to fathom and to understand him. In
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: the face of the cliff, Bradley scooped a cave from
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: the rotted granite of which the hill was composed, making
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: a shelter for them against the reins. He brought wood
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: for their cook fire, which they used only in the
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: middle of the day, a time when there was little
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: likelihood of Wearoos being in the air so far from
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: their city, And then he learned to bank it with
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: earth in such a way that the embers held until
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: the following noon without giving off smoke. Always he was
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: planning on reaching the mainland, and never a day passed
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: that he did not go to the top of the
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: hill and look out across the sea toward the dark,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: distant line that meant for him comparative freedom and possibly
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: reunion with his comrades. The girl always went with him,
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: standing at his side and watching the stern expression on
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: his face, with just a tinge of sadness on her own.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: You are not happy, she said once. I should be
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: over there with my men. He replied, I do not
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: know what may have happened to them. I want you
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: to be happy, she said, quite simply. But I should
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: be very lonely if you went away and left me here.
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: He put his hand on her shoulder. I would not
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: do that, little girl, He said gently. If you cannot
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: go with me, I shall not go. If either of
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: us must go alone, it will be you. Her face
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: lighted to a wondrous smile. Then we shall not be separated,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: she said, for I shall never leave you as long
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: as we both live. He looked down into her face
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: for a moment. And then who is Antack? He asked,
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: my brother? She replied, why? And then, even less than
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: before could he tell her. It was then that he
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: did something he had never done before. He put his
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: arms about her, and, stooping, kissed her forehead. Until you
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: find Antack, he said, I will be your brother. She
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: drew away. I already have a brother, she said, and
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: I do not want another. End of chapter four.