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03 - Out of Time's Abyss - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

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