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Out of Time's Abyss - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Science Fiction Library

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter one. This is the tale of Bradley. After he
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: left Fort Dinosaur, upon the west coast of the Great
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Lake that is in the center of the island. Upon
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the fourth day of September nineteen sixteen, he set out
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: with four companions, Sinclair, Brady, James and Tippett, to search
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: along the base of the Barrier cliffs for a point
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: at which they might be scaled through the heavy Caspakian
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: air beneath the swollen sun. The five men marched northwest
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: from Fort Dinosaur, now waist deep in lush jungle grasses,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: starred with myriad gorgeous blooms, now across open meadow land
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and park like expanses, and again plunging into dense forests
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: of Eucalyptus s andicacia and giant Arboreus ferns, with feathered
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: fronds waving gently a hundred feet above their heads. About them.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Upon the ground, among the trees and in the air
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: over them, moved and swampung and swored the countless forms
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of cast Back's teeming life. Always were they menaced by
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: some frightful thing, and seldom were their rifles cool. Yet
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: even in the brief time they had dwelt upon Caprona.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: They had become callous to danger, so that they swung along,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: laughing and chatting like soldiers on a summer high. This
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: reminds me of South Clark Street, remarked Brady, who had
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: once served on the traffic squad in Chicago, and as
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: no one asked him why he volunteered. That it was
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: because it's no place for an irishman. South Clark Street
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and Heaven have something in common, then, suggested Sinclair. James
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: and Tippett laughed, and then a hideous growl broke from
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: a dense thicket ahead and diverted their attention to other matters,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: one of them behemous av ole eret, muttered Tippett. As
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: they came to a halt, and with guns ready, awaited
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the almost inevitable charge. Hungry lot of beggars, these, said Bradley,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: always tried to eat everything they see. For a moment,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: no further sound came from the thicket. He may be feeding, now,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: suggested Bradley. We'll try to go around him. Contwaiste, ammunition
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: won't last forever. Follow me, and he set off at
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: right angles to their former course, hoping to avert a charge.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: They had taken a dozen steps perhaps, when the thicket
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: moved to the advance of the thing within it. The
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: leafy branches parted, and the hideous head of a gigantic
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: bear emerged. Pick your trees, whispered Bradley, kant waste ammunition.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: The men looked about them. The bear took a couple
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of steps forward, still growling menacingly, he was exposed to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the shoulders. Now Tippet took one look at the monster
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and bolted for the nearest tree. And then the bear charges.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: He charged straight for Tippet. The other men scattered for
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the various trees they had selected, all except Bradley. He
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: stood watching Tippet and the bear. The man had a
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: good start, and the tree was not far away, but
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: the speed of the enormous creature behind him was something
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: to marvel at. Yet Tippet was in a fair way
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: to make his sanctuary when his foot caught in a
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: tangle of roots, and down he went, his rifle flying
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: from his hand and falling several yards away. Instantly Bradley's
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: piece was at his shoulder. There was a sharp report,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: answered by a roar of mingled rage and pain from
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the carnivore. Tippet attempted to scramble to his feet, lie still,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: shouted Bradley, contwaist ammunition. The bear halted in its tracks,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: wheeled toward Bradley, and then back again toward Tippet. Again.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: The former's rifle spit angrily, and the bear turned again
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: in his direction. Bradley shouted loudly, come on, you, Behemeth
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: of Holy writ. He cried, come on, you'd duffer contwate ammunition.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: And as he saw the bear apparently upon the verge
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: of deciding to charge him, he encouraged the idea by
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: backing rapidly away, knowing that an angry beast will more
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: often charge one who moves than one who lies still.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: And the bear did charge. Like a bolt of lightning.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: He flashed down upon the Englishman, Now run, Bradley called
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: a tippet and himself turned in flight toward a near
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: by tree. The other men, now safely asconced upon various branches,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: watched the race with breathless interest. Would Bradley make it?
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: It seemed scarce possible. And if he didn't, James gasped
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: at the thought. Six feet at the shoulders stood the
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: frightful mountain of blood, mad flesh and bone and sinew
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: that was bearing down with the speed of an express
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  Speaker 1: train upon the seemingly slow moving man. It all happened
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: in a few seconds, but they were seconds that seemed
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: like hours to the men who watched. They saw Tippet
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: leap to his feet at Bradley's shouted warning. They saw
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: him run, stooping to recover his rifle as he passed
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: the spot where it had fallen. They saw him glance
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: back toward Bradley, and then they saw him stop short
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: of the tree that might have given him safety, and
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: turned back in the direction of the bear, firing as
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: he ran. Tippet raced after the great cave bear, the
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: monstrous thing that should have been extinct ages before, ran
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: for it, and fired. Even as the beast was almost
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: upon Bradley. The men in the trees scarcely breathed. It
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: seemed to them such a futile thing for Tippet to do,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: And Tippet, of all men, they had never looked upon
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Tippet as a coward. There seemed to be no cowards
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: among that strangely assorted company that fate had gathered together
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: from the four corners of the earth. But Tippet was
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: considered a cautious man. Over cautious, some thought him, how
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: futile he and his little pop gun appeared as he
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: dashed after that living engine of destruction. But oh, how
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: glorious it was some such thought as this that ran
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: through Brady's mind. Though articulated, it might have been expressed otherwise,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: albeit more forcefully. Just then it occurred to Brady to fire,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: and he too, opened upon the bear. But at the
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: same instant the animals stumbled and fell forward, though still
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: growling most fearsomely. Tippet never stopped running or firing until
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: he stood within a foot of the brute, which lay
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: almost touching Bradley and was already struggling to regain its feet.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Placing the muzzle of the gun against the bear's ear,
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Tippet pulled the trigger. The creature sank limply to the ground,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and Bradley scrambled.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: To his feet.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Good work, Tippet, he said, mightily obliged to you. Awful
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: waste of ammunition, really, And then they resumed the march,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: and in fifteen minutes the encounter had ceased even to
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: be a topic of conversation. For two days they continued
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: upon their perilous way. All the cliffs loomed high and
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: forbidding close ahead without sign of break, to encourage hope
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: that somewhere they might be scaled. Late in the afternoon,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the party crossed a small stream of warm water, upon
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: the sluggishly moving surface of which floated countless millions of
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: tiny green eggs, surrounded by a light scum of the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: same color, though of a darker shade. Their past experience
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: of cast Pack had taught them that they might expect
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: to come upon a stagnant pool of warm water if
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: they followed the stream to its source, But there they
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: were almost certain to find some of Castpack's grotesque manlike
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: creatures already, since they had disembarked from the U thirty
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: three after its perilous trip through the subterranean channel beneath
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: the barrier cliffs had brought them into the inland sea
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  Speaker 1: of Castpack, had they encountered what had appeared to be
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: three distinct types of these creatures. There had been the
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: pure apes, huge guerrilla like beasts, and those who walked
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: a trifle more erect and had features with just a
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: shade more of the human caste about them. Then there
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: were men like Alm, whom they had captured and confined
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: at the Fort Olm. The clubman, well known clubman Tyler
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: had called him Alm. And his people had knowledge of speech.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: They had a language in which they were unlike the race,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: just inferior to them, and they walked much more erect
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and were less hairy. But it was principally the fact
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: that they possessed a spoken language and carried a weapon
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that differentiated them from the others. All of these peoples
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: had proven belligerent in the extreme, in common with the
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: rest of the fauna of Caprona. The first law of nature,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: as they seemed to understand it, was to kill, kill, kill,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: And so it was that Bradley had no desire to
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: follow up the little stream toward the pool, near which
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: were sure to be the caves of some savage tribe.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: But fortune played him an unkind trick, for the pool
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  Speaker 1: was much closer than he imagined, its southern end, reaching
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: fully a mile south of the point at which they
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  Speaker 1: crossed the stream. And so it was that, after forcing
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: their way through a tangle of jungle vegetation, they came
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: out upon the edge of the pool, which they had
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: wished to avoid. Almost simultaneously, there appeared south of them
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  Speaker 1: a party of naked men armed with clubs and hatchets.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Both parties halted as they caught sight of one another.
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  Speaker 1: The men from the fort saw before them a hunting party,
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  Speaker 1: evidently returning to its caves or billies laden with meat.
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  Speaker 1: They were large men, with features closely resembling those of
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  Speaker 1: the African Negro. Though their skins were white, Short hair
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: grew upon a large portion of their limbs and bodies,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: which still retained a considerable trace of Apish progenitors. They were, however,
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  Speaker 1: a distinctly higher type than the Bolu or club. Bradley
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: would have been glad to have averted a meeting, but
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  Speaker 1: as he desired to lead his party south round the
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  Speaker 1: end of the pool, and as it was hemmed in
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  Speaker 1: by the jungle on one side and the water on
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  Speaker 1: the other, there seemed no escape from an encounter. On
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  Speaker 1: the chance that he might avoid a clash, Bradley stepped
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  Speaker 1: forward with upraised hand. We are friends, he called, in
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: the tongue of Aum, the Buloo, who had been held
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: prisoner at the fort. Permit us to pass in peace.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: We will not harm you at this The hatchetman set
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: up a great jabbering with much laughter. Loud and boisterous
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: no shouted one. You will not harm us, for we
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: shall kill you. Come we kill, we kill, And with
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: hideous shouts, they charged down upon the Europeans. Sinclair, you
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: may fire, said Bradley, quietly. Pick off the leader contwaist ammunition.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: The Englishman raised his piece to his shoulder and took
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: quick aim at the breast of the yelling savage leaping
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: toward them. Directly behind the leader came another hatchet man,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and with the report of Sinclair's rifle, both warriors lunged
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: forward in the tall grasp, pierced by the same bullet.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: The effect upon the rest of the band was electrical.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: As one man, they came to a sudden halt, wheeled
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: to the east, and dashed into the jungle, where the
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: men could hear them, forcing their way in an effort
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: to put as much distance as possible between themselves and
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: the authors of this new and frightful noise that killed
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: warriors at a great distance. Both the savages were dead
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: when Bradley approached to examine them, and as the Europeans
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: gathered round, other eyes were bent upon them. With greater
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: curiosity than they displayed for the victim of Sinclair's bullet.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: When the party again took up the march around the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: southern end of the pool, the owner of the eyes
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: followed them, large round eyes, almost expressionless except for a
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: certain cold cruelty which glinted malignly from under their pale
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: gray irises, all unconscious of the soccer. The men came
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: laid in the afternoon to a spot which seemed favorable
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: as a camp site. A cold spring bubbled from the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: base of a rocky formation which overhung and partially encircled
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: a small enclosure. At Bradley's command, the men took up
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: the duties assigned them, gathering wood, building a cook fire,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and preparing the evening meal. It was while they were
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: thus engaged that Brady's attention was attracted by the dismal
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: flapping of huge wings. He glanced up, expecting to see
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: one of the great flying reptiles of a by gone age.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: His rifle ready in his hand. Brady was a brave man.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: He had groped his way up narrow tenement stairs and
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: taken an armed maniac from a dark room without turning
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: a hair, But now as he looked up, he went
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: white and staggered back. God, he almost screamed, what is it?
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Attracted by Brady's cry, the others seized their rifles as
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: they followed his wide eyed, frozen gaze. Nor was there
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: one of them that was not moved by some species
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: of terror or awe. Then Brady spoke again, in an
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: almost inaudible voice.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Holy Mother, protect us. It's a banshee.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Bradley, always cool almost to indifference in the face of danger,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: felt a strange, creeping sensation run over his flesh. As slowly,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: not a hundred feet above them, the thing flapped itself
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: across the sky, its huge round eyes glaring down upon them,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and until it disappeared over the tops of the trees
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: of a nearby wood. The five men stood as though paralyzed,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: their eyes never leaving the weird shape, nor never one
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: of them appearing to recall that he grasped a loaded
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: rifle in his hands. With the passing of the thing
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: came the reaction. Tippett sank to the ground and buried
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: his face in his hands. Oh, Gord, he moaned, take
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: me away from this. Order for police. Brady, who recovered
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: from the first shot, swore loud and luridly. He called
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: upon all the saints to witness that he was unafraid,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and that anybody with half an eye could have seen
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: that the creature was nothing more than one of the
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: em flyin alligaters, that they all were familiar with. Yes,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: said Sinclair, with fine sarcasm. We've saw so many of
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: them with white shrouds on him. Shut up, you fool,
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: growled Brady. If you know so much, tell us what
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: it was after beyond them. Then he turned toward Bradley.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: What was it, sir, do you think, he asked? Bradley
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: shook his head. I don't know, he said. It looked
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: like a winged human being clothed in a flowing white robe.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: Its face was more human than otherwise. That is the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: way it looked to me. But what it really was
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: I can't even guess, for such a creature is as
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: far beyond my experience or knowledge as it is beyond yours.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: All that I am sure of is that, whatever else
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: it may have been, it was quite material. It was
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: no ghost, rather just another of the strange forms of
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: life which we have met here, and with which we
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: should be accustomed by this time. Tippet looked up, his
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: face still ashy. You can't tell me, he cried. I
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: seen it, blimey, II seen it. It was how dead
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: man flying through the hair. Didn't I see his eyes? Oh, girld,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: didn't I see him? It didn't look like any beast
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: or reptile to me, spoke up Sinclair. It was looking
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: right down at me when I looked up, and I
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: saw its face plain as I see yours. It had
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: big browned eyes that looked all cold and dead, and
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: its cheeks were sunken in deep, and I could see
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: its yellow teeth behind thin, tight drawn lips, like a
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: man who had been dead a long while, sir, he added,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: turning toward Bradley. Yes, James had not spoken since the
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: apparition had passed over them, and now it was scarce speech,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: which he uttered rather a series of articulate gasps. Yes,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: dead a long while. It du means something. It come
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: for some one, for one of us. One of us
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: is gone to die. I'm going to die, he ended
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: in a wail. Come, come, snapped Bradley. Won't do won't
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: do it all, Get to work, all of you. Waste
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: of time. Cant waste time, his authoritative tones brought them
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: all up standing, and presently each was occupied with his
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: own duties. But each worked in silence, and there was
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: no singing and no bantering, such as had marked the
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: making of previous cams. Not until they had eaten, and
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: to each had been issued the little ration of smoking
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: tobacco aloud after each evening meal did any sign of
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: a relaxation of taut nerves appear. It was Brady who
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: showed the first signs of returning good spirits. He commenced
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: humming It's a long way to Tipperary, and presently to
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: boist the words. But he was well into his third
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: song before anyone joined him, and even then there seemed
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: a dismal note in even the gayest of tunes. A
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: huge fire blazed in the opening of their rocky shelter,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: that the prowling carnivora might be kept at bay, and
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: always one man stood on guard, watchfully alert against a
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: sudden rush by some maddened beast of the jungle. Beyond
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the fire, yellow green spots of flame appeared, moved restlessly about, disappeared,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: and reappeared, accompanied by a hideous chorus of screams and
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: growls and roars, as the hungry meaty hunting through the
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: night were attracted by the light or the scent of
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: possible prey. But to such sights and sounds as these,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: the five men had become callous. They sang or talked
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: as unconcernedly as they might have done in the bar
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: room of some public house.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: At home.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Sinclair was standing guard. The others were listening to Brady's
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: description of traffic congestion at the rough Street bridge during
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the rush hour at night. The fire crackled cheerily. The
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: owners of the Yellow Green Eyes raised their frightful chorus
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: to the heavens. Conditions seemed again to have returned to normal,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and then, as though the hand of death had reached
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: out and touched them, all, the five men tensed into
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: sudden rigidity. Above the nocturnal diapason of the teeming jungle
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: sounded a dismal flapping of wings, and overhead, through the
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: thick night, a shadowy form passed across the diffused light
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: of the flaring camp fire. Sinclair raised his rifle and fired.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: An eerie wail floated down from above, and the apparition,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: whatever it might have been, was swallowed by the darkness.
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: For several seconds, the listening men heard the sound of
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: those dismally flapping wings lessening in the distance until they
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: could no longer be heard. Bradley was the first to speak.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Shouldn't have fired, Sinclair, he said, can't waste ammunition. But
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: there was no note of censure in his tone. It
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: was as though he understood the nervous reaction that had
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: compelled the other's act. I couldn't help it, sir, said Sinclair.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Lord it would take an iron man to keep from
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: shootin at that awful thing you believe in gosts Sir, No,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: replied Bradley, No such things. I don't know about that,
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: said Brady. There was a woman murdered over on the
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: prairie near Brighton. Her throat was cut from ear to ear.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Shut up, snapped Bradley. My granddaddy used to live down Coppington, Why,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: said Tibbett. They were old ruined castle on Eel near
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: by hun At midnight they used to see pile of
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: blue lights through the windows and air. Will you close
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: your hatch, demanded Bradley, You fools will have yourselves scared
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: to death in a minute. Now go to sleep. But
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: there was little sleep in camp that night until utter
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: exhaustion overtook the harassed men toward morning. Nor was there
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: any return of the weird creature that had set the
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: nerves of each of them on edge. The following forenoon,
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: the party reached the base of the Barrier Cliffs and
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: for two days marched northward in an effort to discover
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: a break in the frowning abutment that raised its rocky
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: face almost perpendicularly above them. Yet nowhere was there the
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: slightest indication that the cliffs were scalable. Disheartened, Bradley determined
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: to turn and back toward the fort, as he already
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: had exceeded the time decided upon by Bowen, Tyler and
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: himself for the expedition. The cliffs, for many miles had
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: been trending in a northeasterly direction, indicating to Bradley that
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: they were approaching the northern extremity of the island. According
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: to the best of his calculations, they had made sufficient
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: easting during the past two days to have brought them
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: to a point almost directly north of Fort Dinosaur, and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: as nothing could be gained by retracing their steps along
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the base of the cliffs. He decided to strike due
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: south through the unexpored country between them and the fort.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: That night, September ninth, nineteen sixteen, they made camp a
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: short distance from the cliffs, beside one of the numerous
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: cool springs that are to be found within cast Back,
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: oftentimes close beside the still more numerous warm and hot
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: springs which feed the many pools. After supper, the men
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: lay smoking and chatting among themselves. Tippet was on guard.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Fewer night prowlers threatened them, and the men were commenting
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: upon the fact that the farther north they had traveled,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the smaller the number of all species of animals became,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: though it was still present in what would have seemed
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: appalling plenitude in any other part of the world. The
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: diminution in reptilian life was the most noticeable change in
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the fauna of northern cast Back. Here, however, were forms
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: they had not met elsewhere, several of which were of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: gigantic proportions according to their custom, All, with the exception
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: of the man on guard, sought sleep early, nor once
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: disposed upon the ground for slumber, were they long in
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: finding it. It seemed to Bradley that he had scarcely
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: closed his eyes when he was brought to his feet,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: wide awake by a piercing scream, which was punctuated by
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the sharp report of a rifle from the direction of
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: the fire where tip But stood guard. As he ran
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: toward the man, Bradley heard above him the same uncanny
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: wail that had set every nerve on edge several nights before,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and the dismal flapping of huge wings. He did not
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: need to look up at the white shrouded figure winging
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: slowly away into the night to know that their grim
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: visitor had returned. The muscles of his arm, reacting to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: the sight and sound of the menacing form, carried his
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: hand to the butt of his pistol. But after he
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: had drawn the weapon, he immediately returned it to its
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: holster with a shrug. What for, he muttered, cauntwaist ammunition.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Then he walked quickly to where Tippet lay sprawled upon
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: his face. By this time, James Brady and Sinclair were
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: at his heels, eat with his rifle in readiness. Is
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: he dead, sir? Whispered James. As Bradley kneeled beside the
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: prostrate form. Bradley turned Tippet over on his back and
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: pressed an ear close to the other's heart. In a moment,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: he raised his head fainted. He announced, get water, hurry.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Then he loosened Tippet's shirt at the throat, and when
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the water was brought through a cupful in the man's face.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Slowly Tippet regained consciousness and sat up. At first he
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: looked curiously into the faces of the men about him.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Then an expression of terror overspread his features. He shot
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: a startled glance up into the black void above, and then,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: burying his face in his arms, began to sob like
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: a child. What's wrong, man demanded Bradley. Buck up, cont play,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: cry baby, waste of energy?
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: What oppened?
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: What happened? Sir, wailed Tibbett. Oh gird, sir, He came back.
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: It came for me, sir, right it did, sir, straight
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: hot me, sir, and with long white hands, and he
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: clawed for me. Oh gird, it almost caught me, sir.
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: A'm as good as dead. I'm a markman, That's what
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: I am. It was a golden for the Keremie wharf, sir.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Stuff and nonsense, snapped Bradley. Did you get a good
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: look at it. Tippett said that he did a much
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: better look than he wanted. The thing had almost clutched him,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: and he had looked straight into its eyes, dead eyes,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: in a dead defrice. He had described them, what was
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: it aft to be? And do you think? Inquired Brady.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: It was death, moaned Tippet, shuddering, and again a pall
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: of gloom fell upon the little party. The following day,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Tippet walked as one in a trance. He never spoke
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: except in reply to a direct question, which more often
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: than not had to be repeated before it could attract
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: his attention. He insisted that he was already a dead man,
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: for if the thing didn't come for him during the day,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: he would never live through another night of agonized apprehension
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: waiting for the frightful end that he was positive was
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: in store for him. Oiler see to that, he said,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: and they all knew that Tippett meant to take his
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: own life before darkness set in. Bradley tried to reason
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: with him in any short, crisp way, but soon saw
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: the futility of it. Nor could he take the man's
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: weapons from him without subjecting him to almost certain death
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: from any of the numberless dangers that beset their way.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: The entire party was moody and glum. There was none
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: of the bantering that had marked their intercourse before, even
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: in the face of blighting, hardships, and hideous danger. This
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: was a new menace that threatened them, something that they
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: couldn't explain, and so naturally it aroused within them superstitious fear,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: which Tippett's attitude only tended to augment. To add further
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to their gloom. Their way led through a dense forest, where,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: on account of the underbrush, it was difficult to make
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: even a mile an hour. Constant watchfulness was reached required
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: to avoid the many snakes of various degrees of repulsiveness
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: and enormity that infested the wood, and the only ray
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: of hope they had to cling to was that the
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: forest wood, like the majority of Caspakian forests, proved to
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: be of no considerable extent. Bradley was in the lead
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: when he came suddenly upon a grotesque creature of titanic
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: proportions crouching among the trees, which here commenced to thin
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: out slightly. Bradley saw what appeared to be an enormous
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: dragon devouring the carcass of a mammoth from frightful jaws
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: to the tip of its long tail. It was fully
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: forty feet in length. Its body was covered with plates
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: of thick skin which bore a striking resemblance to armor plate.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: The creature saw Bradley almost at the same instant that
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: he saw it, and reared up on its enormous hind
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: legs until its head towered a full twenty five feet
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: above the ground. From the cavernous jaws issued a hissing
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: sound of a volume equal to the escaping steam from
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the safety valves of half a dozen locomotives, and then
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: the creature came for the man. Scatter shouted Bradley to
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: those behind him, and all but Tippet heeded the warning.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: The man stood as though dazed, and when Bradley saw
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the other's danger, he too stopped, and, wheeling about, sent
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: a bullet into the massy body, forcing its way through
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: the trees toward him. The shot struck the creature in
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: the belly, where there was no protecting armor, eliciting a
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: new note, which rose in a shrill whistle and ended
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: in a wail. It was then that Tippett appeared to
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: come out of his trance, for with a cry of terror,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: he turned and fled to the left. Bradley, seeing that
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: he had as good an opportunity as the others to escape,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: now turned his attention to extricating himself, and as the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: woods seemed dense on the right, he ran in that direction,
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: hoping that the close set bowls would prevent pursuit on
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: the part of the great reptile. The dragon paid no
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: further attention to him, however, for Tippet's sudden break for
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: liberty had attracted its attention, and after Tippet, it went
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: bowling over small trees, uprooting underbrush, and leaving a weight
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: behind it like that of a small tornado. Bradley, the
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: moment he had discovered the thing was pursuing Tippet, had
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: followed it. He was afraid to fire for fear of
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: hitting the man, and so it was that he came
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: upon them at the very moment that the monster lunsed
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: its great weight forward upon the doomed man. The sharp
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: three toad talons of the forelimb seized poor Tippet, and
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Bradley saw the unfortunate fellow lifted high above the ground
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: as the creature again reared up on its hind legs,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: immediately transferring Tippet's body to its gaping jaws, which closed
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: with a sickening crunching sound. As Tippet's bone cracked beneath
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: the great teeth. Bradley half raised his rifle to fire again,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: and then lowered it with a shake of his head.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Tippet was beyond succor. Why waist a bullet that cast
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: back could never replace. If he could now escape the
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: further notice of the monster, it would be a wiser
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: act than to throw his life away in futile revenge.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: He saw that the reptile was not looking in his direction,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: and so he slipped noiselessly behind the bowl of a
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: large tree, and thence quietly faded away in the direction
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: he believed the others to have taken. At what he
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: considered a safe distance, he halted and looked back. Half
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: hidden by the intervening trees, he still could see the
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: huge head and the massive jaws from which protruded the
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: limp legs of the dead man. Then, as though struck
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: by the hammer of thor, the creature collapsed and crumpled
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: to the ground. Bradley's single bullet, penetrating the body through
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: the soft skin of the belly, had slain the titan.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: A few minutes later, Bradley found the others of the party.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: The four returned cautiously to the spot where the creature lay, and,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: after convincing themselves that it was quite dead, came close
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: to it. It was an arduous and gruesome jaw, extricating
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Tippet's mangled remains from the powerful jaws the men working,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: for the most part silently. It was the work of
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: a banshy. All right, muttered Brady, It warned poor Tippet.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: It did. It killed him, That's what it did, and
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: it'll kill some more of us, said James, his lower
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: lip trembling. If it was a ghost, interjected Sinclair. And
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: I don't say as it was. But if it was,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: why it could take on any form it wanted to.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: It might have turned itself into this thing, which ain't
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: no natural thing at all, just to get poor Tippet.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: If it had been a lion or something else human like,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't look so strange. But this here thing ain't
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: human like. There ain't no such thing, and never was.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: Bullets don't kill ghosts, said Bradley, so this couldn't have
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: been a ghost. Furthermore, there are no such things. I've
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: been trying to place this creature just succeeded. It's a Tyrannosaurus.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Saw a picture of skeleton in magazine. There's one in
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: New York Natural History Museum. Seems to me it's said
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: it was found in place called Hell Creek, somewhere in
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: western North America, supposed to have lived about six million
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: years ago. Hell Creek's in Montana, said Sinclair. I used
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: to punch cows in Wyoming, and I've heard of Hell Creek.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Do you suppose that there are things six million years old?
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: His tone was skeptical. No, replied Bradley, but it would
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: indicate that the island of Kokrona has stood almost without
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: change for more than six million years. The conversation, in
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Bradley's assurance that the creature was not of supernatural origin,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: helped to raise a trifle the spirits of the men,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: and then came another diversion in the form of ravenous
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: meat eaters, attracted to the spot by the uncanny sense
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: of smell which had apprised them of the presence of
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: flesh killed and ready for the eating. It was a
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: constant battle while they dug a grave and consigned all
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: that was mortal of John Tippett to his last lonely
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: resting place. Nor would they leave then, but remain to
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: fashion a rude headstone from a crumbling outcropping of sandstone,
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: and to gather a mass of the gorgeous flowers growing
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: in such a great profusion round them, and heap the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: new made grave with bright blooms upon the headstone. Sinclair
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: scratched in rude characters, the words here lies John Tippett,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Englishmen killed by Tyrannus Tsaurus ten September a d. Nineteen sixteen. R. I. P.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: And Bradley repeated a short prayer before they left their
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: comrade forever. For three days the party marched due south
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: through forests and meadowland and great park like areas. Were
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: countless herbivorous animals grazed, deer and antelope, and bows, and
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: the little ecca, the smallest species of Caspakian horse, about
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: the size of a rabbit. There were other horses too,
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: but all were small, the largest being not above eight
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: hands in height, preying continually upon the herbivora were the
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: meat eaters, large and small wolves, hyenodons, panthers, lions, tigers,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: and bear, as well as several large and ferocious species
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: of reptilian life. On September twelfth, the party scale a
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: line of sandstone cliffs which crossed their route towards the south,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: but they crossed them only after an encounter with the
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: tribe that inhabited the numerous caves which pitted the face
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: of the escarpment. That night, they camped upon a rocky
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: plateau which was sparsely wooded with jarra, and here once
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: again they were visited by the weird nocturnal apparition that
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: had already filled them with a nameless terror. As on
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: the night of September ninth, the first warning came from
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: the sentinel standing guard over his sleeping companions. A terror
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: stricken cry punctuated by the crack of a rifle brought Bradley,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: Sinclair and Brady to their feet in time to see
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: James with clubbed rifle, battling with a white robed figure
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: that hovered on widespread wings on a level with the
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: Englishman's head. As they ran, shouting forward, it was obvious
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: to them that the weird and terrible apparition was attempting
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: to seize James, but when it saw the others coming
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: to his rescue, it desisted, flapping rapidly upward and away,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: its long ragged wings, giving forth the peculiarly dismal notes
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: which always characterized the sound of its flying. Bradley fired
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: at the vanishing menacer of their peace and safety, but
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: whether he scored ahead or not none could tell, though
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: following the shot there was wafted back to them the
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: same piercing wail that had on other occasions frozen their marrow.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Then they turned toward James, who lay face downward upon
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: the ground, trembling as with agu But for a time
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: he could not even speak, but at last regained sufficient
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: composure to tell them how the thing must have swooped
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: silently upon him from above and behind, as the first
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: premonition of danger he had received was when the long
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: clawlike fingers had clutched him beneath either arm in the melee.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: His rifle had been discharged, and he had broken away
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: at the same instant and turned to defend himself with
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: the butt. The rest they had seen from that instant,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: James was an absolutely broken man. He maintained, with shaking
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: lips that his doom was sealed, that the thing had
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: marked him for its own, and that he was as
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: good as dead. Nor could any amount of argument or
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: raillery convince him to the contrary. He had seen Tippet
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: marked and claimed, and now he had been marked. Nor
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: were his constant reiterations of this belief without effect upon
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: the rest of the party. Even Bradley felt depressed, though
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: for the sake of the others he managed to hide
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: it beneath a show of confidence. He was far from feeling,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: and on the following day William James was killed by
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: a saber tooth tiger September thirteenth, nineteen sixteen, beneath a
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: jar tree on the stony plateau, on the northern edge
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: of the Stolough Country, in the land that time forgot.
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: He lies in a lonely grave marked by a rough headstone.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: Southward from his grave three grim and silent men. To
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: the best of Bradley's reckoning, they were some twenty five
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: miles north of Fort Dinosaur, and that they might reach
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: the fort on the following day. They plodded on until
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: darkness overtook them. With comparative safety. Fifteen miles away, they
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: made camp at last, but there was no singing now,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: and no joking. In the bottom of his heart, each
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: prayed that they might come safely through just this night,
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: for they knew that during the morrow they would make
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: the final stretch. Yet the nerves of each were taut
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: with strained anticipation of what gruesome thing might flap down
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: upon them from the black sky. Marking another for its own,
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: who would be the next? As was their custom, they
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: took turns at guard, each man doing two hours and
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: then rousing the next. Brady had gone on from eight
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: to ten, followed by Sinclair from ten to twelve. Then
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Bradley had been awakened. Brady would stand the last guard
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: from two to four, as they had determined to start
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: the moment that it became light enough to insure comparative
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: safety upon the trail. The snapping of a twig aroused
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Brady out of a dead sleep, and as he opened
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: his eyes he saw that it was broad daylight, and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: that at twenty paces from him stood a huge lion.
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: As the man sprang to his feet, his rifle ready
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: in his hand, Sinclair awoke and took in the scene
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: in a single swift glance, the fire was out and
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: Bradley was nowhere in sight. For a long moment, the
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: lion and the men eyed one another. The latter had
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: no mind to fire if the beast minded its own affairs.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: They were only too glad to let it go its
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: way if it would. But the lion was of a
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: different mind. Suddenly, the long tail snapped, stiffly erect, and
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: as though it had been attached to two trigger fingers,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: the two rifles spoke in unison. For both men knew
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: this signal only too well, the immediate forerunner of a
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: deadly charge. As the brute's head had been raised, his
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: spine had not been visible, and so they did what
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: they had learned by long experience was best to do.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: Each covered a front leg, and as the tail snapped,
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: Aloft fired with a hideous roar. The mighty flesh eater
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: lurched forward to the ground with both front legs broken.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: It was an easy accomplishment in the instant before the
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: beast charged, after it would have been well nigh and
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: impossible feet Brady stepped close in and finished him with
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: a shot in the base of the brain. Lest his
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: terrific roaring should attract his mate or others of their kind.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: Then the two men turned and looked at one another.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Where is Lieutenant Bradley, asked Sinclair. They walked to the fire.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: Only a few smoking embers remained. A few feet away
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: lay Bradley's rifle. There was no evidence of a struggle.
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: The two men circled about the camp twise, and on
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: the last lap, Brady stooped and picked up an object
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: which had lain about ten yards beyond the fire. It
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: was Bradley's cap. Again, the two looked questioningly at one another,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: and then simultaneously both pairs of eyes swung upward and
• 41:16
  Speaker 1: searched the sky. A moment later, Brady was examining the
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: ground about the spot where Bradley's cap had lain. It
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: was one of those little barren sandy stretches that they
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: had found only upon this stony plateau. Brady's own footsteps
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: showed as plainly as black ink upon white paper, but
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: his was the only foot that had marred the smooth,
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: wind swept surface. There was no sign that Bradley had
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: crossed the spot upon the surface of the ground, and
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: yet his cap lay well toward the center of it.
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: Breakfastless and with shaken nerves, the two survivors plunged madly
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: into the long day's march. Both were strong, courageous, resourceful men,
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: but each had reached the limit of human nerve endurance,
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: and each felt that he would rather die than spend
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: another night in the hideous open of that frightful land.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Vivid in the mind of each was a picture of
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Bradley's end, For though neither had witnessed the tragedy, both
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: could imagine almost precisely what had occurred. They did not
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: discuss it, they did not even mention it. Yet all
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: day long the thing was uppermost in the mind of each,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: and mingled with it a similar picture with himself as
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: victims should they fail to make Fort Dinosaur before dark.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: And so they plunged forward at reckless speed, their clothes
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: their hands, their faces torn by the retarding underbrush that
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: reached forth to hinder them. Again and again they fell.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: But be it to their credit that the one always
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: waited and helped the other, and that into the mind
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: of neither entered the thought or the temptation to desert
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: his companion. They would reach the fort together if both survived,
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: or neither would reach it. They encountered the usual number
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: of savage beasts and reptiles, but they met them with
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: a courageous recklessness born of desperation, and by virtue of
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: the very madness of the chances they took. They came
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: through unscathed and with the minimum of delay. Shortly after
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: noon they reached the end of the plateau. Before them
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: was a drop of two hundred feet to the valley
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: beneath to the left. In the distance they could see
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: the waters of the Great Inland Sea that covers a
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: considerable portion of the area of the crater island of Caprona,
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: and at a little lesser distance to the south of
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: the cliffs, they saw a thin spiral of smoke arising
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: above the tree tops. The landscape was familiar. Each recognized
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: it immediately and knew that that smoky column marked the
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: spot where dinosaur had stood. Was the fort still there
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: or did the smoke arise from the smoldering embers of
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: the building They had helped a fashion for the housing
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: of their party. Who could say thirty precious minutes that
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: seemed as many hours to the impatient men were consumed
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: in locating a precarious way from the summit to the
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: base of the cliffs that bounded the plateau upon the south,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: and then once again they struck off upon level ground
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: toward their goal. The closer they approached the fort, the
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: greater became their apprehension that all would not be well.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: They pictured the barracks deserted, or the small company massacred,
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: and the buildings in ashes. It was almost in a
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: frenzy of fear that they broke through the final fringe
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: of jungle and stood at last upon the verge of
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: the open meadow a half mile from Fort Dinosaur. Lord
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: ejaculated Sinclair, they are still there, and he fell to
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: his knees sobbing. Brady trembled like a leaf as he
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: crossed himself and gave silent thanks for There before them
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: stood the sturdy ramparts of Dinosaur, and from inside the
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: enclosure rose a thin spiral of smoke that marked the
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: location of the cook house. All was well then, and
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: their comrades were preparing the evening meal. Across the clearing
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: they raced, as though they had not already covered in
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: a single day, attractless primeval country that might easily have
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: required two days. By fresh and untired men withinhaling distance.
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: They set up such a loud shouting that presently had
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: disappeared above the top of the parapet, and soon answering
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: shouts were rising from within Fort Dinosaur. A moment later
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: three men issued from the enclosure and came forward to
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: meet the survivors and listened to the hurried story of
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the eleven eventful days since they had set out upon
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: their expedition to the Barrier Cliffs. They heard of the
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: deaths of Tippet and James, and of the disappearance of
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Bradley, and a new terror settled upon Dinosaur. Olson,
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: the Irish engineer, with Whiteley and Wilson, constituted the remnants
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: of Dinosaur's defenders, and to Brady and Sinclair they narrated
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: the salient events that had transpired since Bradley and his
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: party had marched away on September fourth. They told them
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: of the infamous act of Baron Friedrich Bonschuenbortz and his
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: German crew, who had stolen the U thirty three, breaking
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: their parole and steaming away towards the subterranean opening through
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: the Barrier Cliffs that carried the waters of the Inland Sea.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: Into the open Pacific beyond, and of the cowardly shelling
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: of the fort. They told of the disappearance of Miss
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: LaRue in the night of September eleventh, and of the
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: departure of Bolan Tyler in search of her, accompanied only
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: by his Airdale Knobs. Thus, of the original party of
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: eleven Allies and nine Germans that had constituted the company
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: of the U thirty three when she left English Waters
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: after her capture by the crew of the English tug,
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: there were but five now to be accounted for at
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: Fort Dinosaur. Benson, Tippett, James, and one of the Germans
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: were known to be dead. It was assumed that Bradley,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: Tyler and the girl had already succumbed some of the
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: savage denizens of cast Back, while the fate of the
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: Germans was equally unknown. Though it might readily be believed
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: that they had made good their escape, they had had
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: ample time to provision the ship, and the refining of
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: the crude oil they had discovered north of the fort
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: could have insured them an ample supply to carry them
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: back to Germany. End of Chapter one, Chapter two, when
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: Bradley went on guard at midnight, September fourteenth. His thoughts
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: were largely occupied with rejoicing that the night was almost
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: spent without serious mishap, and that the Morl would doubtless
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: see them all safely returned to Fort Dinosaur. The hopefulness
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: of his mood was tinged with sorrow by recollection of
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: the two members of his party who lay back there
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: in the savage wilderness, and for whom there would never
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: again be a home coming. No premonition of impending ill
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: gloom over his anticipations for the coming day. For Bradley
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: was a man who, while taking every precaution against possible danger,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: permitted no gloomy forebodings to weigh down his spirit. When
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: danger threatened, he was prepared, but he was not forever
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: courting disaster. And so it was that, when about one
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning of the fifteenth he heard the
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: dismal flapping of giant wings overhead, he was neither surprised
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: nor frightened, but idly prepared for an attack he had
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: known might reasonably be expected. The sound seemed to come
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: from the south, and presently low above the trees in
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: that direction. The man made out a dim, shadowy form
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: circling slowly about. Bradley was a brave man, yet so
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: keen was the feeling of revulsion engendered by the sight
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: and sound of that grim, uncanny shape, that he distinctly
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: felt the goose flesh rise over the surface of his body.
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: And it was with difficulty that he refrained from following
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: and instinctive urge to fire upon the nocturnal intruder. Better,
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: far better, would it have been had he given in
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: to the insistent demand of his sub conscious mentor But
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: his almost fanatical obsession to save ammunition proved now his undoing.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: For while his attention was riveted upon the thing circling
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: before him, and while his ears were filled with the
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: beating of its wings, there swooped silently out of the
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: black night behind him, another weird and ghostly shape, with
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: its huge wings partly closed for the dive, and its
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: white robe fluttering in its wake. The apparition swooped down
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: upon the Englishman. So great was the force of the
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: impact when the thing struck badly between the shoulders that
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: the man was half stunned. His rifle flew from his grasp.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: He felt claw like talons of great strength seize him
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: beneath his arms and sweep him off his feet. And
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: then the thing rose swiftly with him, so swiftly that
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: his cap was blown from his had by the rush
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: of air as he was borne rapidly upward into the
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: inky sky, and the cry of warning to his companions
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: was forced back into his lungs. The creature wheeled immediately
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: toward the east, and was at once joined by its fellow,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: who circled them once and then fell in behind them.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: Bradley now realized the strategy that the pair had used
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: to capture him, and at once concluded that he was
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: in the power of reasoning beings closely related to the
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: human race, if not actually of it. Past experience suggested
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: that the great wings were a part of some ingenious
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: mechanical device for the limitations of the human mind, which
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: is always low to accept pot beyond its own. Little
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: experience would not permit him to entertain the idea that
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: the creatures might be naturally winged and at the same
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: time of human origin. From his position, Bradley could not
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: see the wings of his captor, nor in the darkness,
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: had he been able to examine those of the second
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: creature closely. When it circled before him. He listened for
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: the puff of a motor or some other tail tale
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: sound that would prove the correctness of his theory. However,
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: he was rewarded with nothing more than the constant flap flap.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: Presently far below and ahead he saw the waters of
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: the Inland Sea, and a moment later he was borne
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: over them. Then his captor did that which proved beyond
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: doubt to Bradley that he was in the hands of
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: human beings who had devised an almost perfect scheme of
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: duplicating mechanically the wings of a bird. The thing spoke
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: to its companion, and in a language that Bradley partially understood,
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: since he recognized words that he had learned from the
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: savage races of cash Pack. From this he judged that
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: they were human, And being human, he knew that they
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: could have no natural wings, for who had ever seen
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: a human being so adored? Therefore, their wings must be mechanical. Thus,
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: Bradley reasoned, thus, most of us reason not by what
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: might be possible, but by what has fallen within the
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: range of our experience. What he heard them say was
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: to the effect that having covered half the distance, the
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: burden would now be transferred from one to the other.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Bradley wondered how the exchange was to be accomplished. He
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: knew that those giant wings would not permit the creatures
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: to approach one another closely enough to effect the transfer
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: in this manner, but he was soon to discover that
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: they had other means of doing it. He felt the
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: thing that carried him rise to a great altitude, and
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: below he glimpsed momentarily the second white robed figure. Then
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: the creature above sounded a low call. It was answered
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: from below, and instantly Bradley felt the clutching talons release him.
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: Gasping for breath, he hurdled downward through space for a
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: terrifying instant. Pregnant with horror, Bradley fell. Then something swooped
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: for him from behind. Another pair of talons clutched him
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: beneath the arms. His downward rush was checked. Within another
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: hundred feet and close to the surface of the sea,
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: he was again borne upward. As a hawk dives for
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: a song bird on the wing, so this great human
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: bird dived for Bradley. It was a harrowing experience, but
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: soon over and once again the captive was being carried
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: swiftly toward the east, and what fate he could not
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: even guess. It was immediately following his transfer in mid
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: air that Bradley made out the shadowy form of a
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: large island far ahead, and not long after he realized
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: that this must be the intended destination of his captors,
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: Nor was he mistaken. Three quarters of an hour from
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: the time of his seizure, his captors dropped gently to
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: earth in the strangest city that human eye had ever
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: rested upon. Just a brief glimpse of his immediate surroundings
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: bouchsafed Bradley before he was whisked into the interior of
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: one of the buildings, But in that momentary glance he
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: saw strange piles of stone and wood and mud fashioned
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: into buildings of all conceivable sizes and shapes, sometimes piled
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: high on top of one another, sometimes standing alone in
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: an open courtway, but usually crowded and jammed together, so
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: that there were no streets or alleys between them, other
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: than a few which ended almost as soon as they began.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: The principal doorways appeared to be in the roofs, and
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: it was through one of these that Bradley was inducted
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: into the dark interior of a low sealed roof. Here
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: he was pushed roughly into a corner, where he tripped
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: over a thick mat, and there his captors left him.
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: He heard them moving about in the darkness for a moment,
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: and several times he saw their large, luminous eyes glowing
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: in the dark. Finally these disappeared, and silence reigned, broken
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: only by the breathing of the creature, which indicated to
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: the England that they were sleeping somewhere in the same apartment.
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: It was now evident that the mat upon the floor
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: was intended for sleeping purposes, and that the rough shove
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: that had sent him to it had been a rude
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: invitation to repose. After taking stock of himself and finding
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: that he still had his pistol and ammunition, some matches,
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: a little tobacco, a canteen full of water, and a razor,
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: Bradley made himself comfortable upon the mat, and was soon asleep,
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: knowing that an attempt to escape in the darkness without
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: knowledge of his surroundings would be predoomed to failure. When
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: he awoke, it was broad daylight, and the sight that
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: met his eyes made him rub them again and again
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: to assure himself that they were really open and that
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: he was not dreaming. A broad shaft of morning light
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: poured through the open doorway in the ceiling of the room,
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: which was about thirty feet square or roughly square, being
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: irregular in shape, one side curving outward, another being indented
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: by what might have been the corner of another building,
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: jotting into it another alcove by three sides of an octagon,
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: while the fourth was serpentine in contour. Two windows let
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: in more daylight, while two doors evidently gave ingress to
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: other rooms. The walls were partially sealed with thin strips
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: of wood, nicely fitted and finished, partially plastered, and the
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: rest covered with a fine woven cloth. Figures of beasts
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: and reptiles were painted without regard to any uniform scheme
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: here and there upon the walls. A striking feature of
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: the decorations consisted of several engaged columns set into the
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: walls at no regular intervals, the capitals of each supporting
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: a human skull, the cranium of which touched the ceiling,
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: as though the latter was supported by These grim reminders
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: either of departed relatives or of some hideous tribal right,
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: Bradley could not but wondered which. Yet it was none
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: of these things that filled him with greatest wonder No,
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: it was the figures of the two creatures that had
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: captured him and brought him hither. At one end of
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: the room, a stout pole about two inches in diameter,
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: ran horizontally from wall to wall, some six or seven
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: feet from the floor, its ends securely set in two
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: of the columns. Hanging by their knees from this perch,
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: their heads downward and their bodies wrapped in their huge wings,
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: slept the creatures of the night before, like two great
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: horrid bats. They hung asleep. As Bradley gazed upon them
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: in wide eyed astonishment, he saw plainly that all his intelligence,
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: all his acquired knowledge through the years of observation and experience,
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: were set at naught by the simple evidence of the
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: fact that stood out glaringly before his eyes. The creature's
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: wings were not mechanical devices, but as natural appendages, growing
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: from their shoulder blades, as were their arms and legs.
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: He saw too, that except for their wings, the pair
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: bore a strong resemblance to human beings, though fashioned in
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: a most grotesque mold. As he sat gazing at them.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: One of the two awoke, separated his wings to release
• 58:17
  Speaker 1: his arms that had been folded across his breast, placed
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: his hands upon the floor, dropped his feet, and stood
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: erect for a moment. He stretched his great wings slowly, solemnly,
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: blinking his large round eyes. Then his gaze fell upon Bradley.
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: The thin lips drew back tightly against yellow teeth in
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: a grimace that was nothing but hideous. It could not
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: have been termed a smile. And what emotion it registered
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: the Englishman was a lost to gas. No expression whatever
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: altered the steady gaze of those large round eyes. There
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: was no color upon the pasty, sunken cheeks. A death's
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: head grimaced, as though a man long dead raised his
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: parchment covered skull from an old grave. The creature stood
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: about the height of an average man, but appeared much
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: taller from the fact that the joints of his long
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: wings rose fully a foot above his hairless head. The
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: bare arms were long and sinewy, ending in strong bony
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: hands with claw like fingers, almost talon like in their suggestiveness.
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: The white robe was separated in front, revealing skinny legs,
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: and the further fact that the thing wore but the
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: single garment, which was of fine woven cloth from crown
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: to soul. The portions of the body exposed were entirely hairless,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: and as he noted this, Bradley also noted for the
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: first time the cause of much of the seeming expressionlessness
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: of the creature's countenance. It had neither eyebrows or lashes.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: The ears were small and rested flat against the skull,
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: which was noticeably round, though the face was quite flat.
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: The creature had small feet, beautifully arched and plump, but
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: so out of keeping with every other physical attribute it
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: possessed as to appear ridiculous. After eyeing Bradley for a moment,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: the thing approached him. Where are from it asked England,
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: replied Bradley, as briefly.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: Where is England?
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: And what? Pursued the Questioner? It is a country far
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: from here, answered the Englishman. Are your people corsvajo or Cossantloo?
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: I do not understand you, said Bradley, And now suppose
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: you answer a few questions. Who are you? What country
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: is this? Why did you bring me here? Again? The
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: Separacharl Grimace, We.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: Are weerus Louata is our father, pass back is ours.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 2: This our country is called uh oh. We brought you
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 2: here for him who speaks for Luata to gaze upon
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: and question. He would know from whence you came and why.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: But principally, if you be cossantlou and if I am
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: not caused whatever you call the bloomin beast, what of it?
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: The Wiiru raised his wings in a very human shrug
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: and waved his bony claws towards the human skulls supporting
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: the ceiling. His gesture was eloquent, but he embellished it
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: by remarking, and possibly, if you are.
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: I'm hungry, snapped Bradley. The Wiirrou motioned him to one
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: of the doors, which he threw open, permitting Bradley to
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: pass out on to another roof on a level lower
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: than that upon which they had landed early in the morning.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: By daylight, the city appeared even more remarkable than in
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: the moonlight, though less weird and unreal. The houses of
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: all shapes and sizes were piled about as a child
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: might pile blocks of various forms and collars. He saw
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: now that there were what might be called streets or alleys,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: but they ran in baffling turns and twists, nor ever
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: reached a destination, always ending in a dead wall, where
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: some wiru had built a house across them. Upon each
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: house was a slender column supporting a human's skull. Sometimes
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 1: the columns were at one corner of the roof, sometimes
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: at another, or again they rose from the center or
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: near the center, and the columns were of barying heights,
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 1: from that of a man to those which rose twenty
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: feet above their roofs. The skulls were, as a rule,
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: painted blue or white, or in combinations of both colors.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: The most effective were painted blue, with the teeth white,
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: and the eye sockets rimmed with white. There were other skulls,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: thousands of them, tens, hundreds of thousands. They rimmed the
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: eaves of every house. They were set in the plaster
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: of the outer walls, and at no great distance from
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: where Bradley stood rose a round tower built entirely of
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: human skulls, And the city extended in every direction as
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: far as the Englishman could see. All about him, weirus
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 1: were moving across the roofs or winging through the air.
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: The sad sound of their flapping wings rose and fell
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: like a solemn dirge. Most of them were appareled all
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: in white, like his captors, but others had markings of
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: red or blue or yellow slashed across the front of
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: their robes. His guide pointed toward a doorway in an
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: alley below them.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: Go there and eat, he commanded, and then come back.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: You cannot escape. If any question you say that you
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: belonged to foche Balsage, there is the way.
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: And this time he pointed to the top of a
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: ladder which protruded above the eaves of the roof near by.
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: Then he turned and re entered the house. Bradley looked
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: about him. No, he could not escape, that seemed evident.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: The city appeared interminable, and beyond the city, if not
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: a savage wilderness filled with wild beasts, there was the
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: broad inland Sea, infested with horrid monsters. No wonder his
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: captor felt safe in turning him loose in ooh oh.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: He wondered if that was the name of the country
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: or the city, and if there were other cities like
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: this upon the island. Slowly he descended the ladder to
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: the seemingly deserted alley, which was paved with what appeared
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: to be large round cobblestones. He looked again at the
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: smooth worn pavement, and a rueful grin crossed his features.
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 1: The alley was paved with skulls. The city of human skulls,
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 1: mused Bradley. They must have been collecting them since Adam,
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: he thought. And then he crossed and entered the building
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: through the doorway that had been pointed out to him.
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: Inside he found a large room in which were many
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: weirus seated before pedestals, the tops of which were hollowed
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: out so that they resembled the ordinary bird drinking and
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 1: bathing fonts so commonly seen on suburban lawns. A seat
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: protruded from each of the four sides of the pedestals,
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: just a flat board with a support running from its
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: outer end diagonally to the base of the pedestal. As
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: Bradley entered, some of the weirrous espied him, and a
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: dismal wail arose.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: Whether it was a.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: Greeting or a threat, Bradley he did not know. Suddenly,
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: from a dark alcove, another waaroo rushed out toward him.
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 2: Who are you, he cried? What do you want?
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: Fosh Balsage sent me here to eat, replied Bradley.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 2: Do you belong to fashe Balsag.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: Asked the other? That appears to be what he thinks,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: answered the Englishman.
• 1:05:19
  Speaker 2: Are you cause ataloo?
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: Demanded the Weirrou. Give me something to eat, or I'll
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: be all of that, replied Bradley. The Wirrou looked puzzled.
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: Sit here, Jaulu, he snapped, and Bradley sat down, unconscious
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: of the fact that he had been insulted by being
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: called a hyena man, an appellation of contempt in Caspack.
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: The wiiru had seated him at a pedestal by himself,
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 1: and as he sat waiting for what was next to transpire,
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: he looked about him at the wiru in his immediate vicinity.
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: He saw that in each font was a quantity of food,
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: and that each wiru was armed with a wooden skewer
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 1: sharpened at one end, with which they carried said portions
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: of food to their mouths. At the other end of
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: the skewer was fastened a small clam shell. This was
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 1: used to scoop up the smaller and softer portions of
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: the repast, into which all four of the occupants of
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: each table dipped impartially. The wearoo leaned far over their
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: food scooping it up rapidly and with much noise, And
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: so great was their haste that a part of each
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: mouthful always fell back into the common dish. And when
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: they choked, by reason of the rapidity with which they
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: attempted to bolt their food, they often lost it all.
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: Bradley was glad that he had a pedestal all to himself.
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: Soon the keeper of the place returned with a wooden
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: bowl filled with food. This he dumped into Bradley's trough
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: as he already thought of it. The Englishman was glad
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: that he could not see into the dark alcove or
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: know what were all the ingredients that constituted the mess
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: before him, for he was very hungry after the first mouthful.
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: He cared even less to investigate the antecedents of the dish,
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 1: for he found it peculiarly palatable. It seemed to consist
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 1: of a combination of meat, fruits, vegetables, small fish, and
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 1: other undistinguishable articles of food, all seasoned to produce a
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 1: gastronomic effect that was at once baffling and delicious. When
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 1: he had finished, his trough was empty, and then he
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 1: commenced to wonder who was to settle for his meal.
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: As he waited for the proprietor to return, he fell
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: to examining the dish from which he had eaten and
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: the pedestal upon which it rested. The font was of stone,
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: worn smooth by long continued use, the four outer edges
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: hollowed and polished by the contact of the countless warroo
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: bodies that had leaned against them for how long a
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: period of time Bradley could not even guess. Everything about
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: the place carried the impression of hoary age. The carved
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: pedestals were black with use, The wooden seats were worn hollow.
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: The floor of stone slabs was polys by the contact
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: of possibly millions of naked feet, and worn away in
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: the aisles between the pedestals, so that the latter rested
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 1: upon little mounds of stone several inches above the general
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: level of the floor. Finally, seeing that no one came
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 1: to collect, Bradley arose and started for the doorway. He
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 1: had covered half the distance when he heard the voice
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 1: of mine host calling to him come back. Jay e
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: Lu screamed the Weiru and Bradley did as he was bid.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: As he approached the creature, which stood now behind a large,
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: flat topped pedestal beside the alcohol, he saw lying upon
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 1: the smooth surface something that almost elicited a gasp of
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: astonishment from him. A simple common thing it was, or
• 1:08:44
  Speaker 1: would have been, almost anywhere in the world. But cast
• 1:08:47
  Speaker 1: back a square bit of paper, and on it, in
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 1: a fine hand written compactly were many strange hieroglyphics. These
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 1: remarkable creatures then had a written as well as a
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: spoken langug which, and besides the art of weaving cloth,
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: possessed that of paper making. Could it be that such
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: grotesque beings represented the high culture of the human race
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: within the boundaries of Caspack. Had natural selection produced during
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 1: the countless ages of Caspackian life a winged monstrosity that
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: represented the earthly pinnacle of man's evolution. Bradley had noted
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 1: something of the obvious indications of a gradual evolution from
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 1: ape to spear man, as exemplified by the several overlapping
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: races of Alalus club men and hatchetmen that formed the
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: connecting links between the two extremes with which he had
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 1: come in contact. He had heard of the Crowlews and
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: the Gallows, reputed to be still higher in the plane
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 1: of evolution, and now he had indisputable evidence of a
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 1: race possessing refinements of civilization eons in advance of the spearman.
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 1: The conjectures of awakened by even a momentary consideration of
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 1: the possibilities involved, became at once as wildly bizarre as
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: the insane imagings of a drug addict. As these thoughts
• 1:10:11
  Speaker 1: flashed through his mind, the Wiiru held out a pen
• 1:10:15
  Speaker 1: of bone fixed to a wooden holder. At the same
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: time made a sign that Bradley was to write upon
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: the paper. It was difficult to judge from the expressionless
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: features of the Weiru what was passing in the creature's mind,
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: but Bradley could not but feel that the thing cast
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: a supercilious glance upon him, as much as to say.
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: Of course, you do not know how to write, you
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 2: poor little creature, but you can make your mark.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: Bradley seized the pen and in a clear, bold hand,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: wrote John Bradley, England. The weirrou showed evidences of consternation
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 1: as it seized the piece of paper and examined the
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 1: writing with every mark of incredulity and surprise. Of course,
• 1:11:00
  Speaker 1: could make nothing of the strange characters, but it evidently
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: accepted them as proof that Bradley possessed knowledge of a
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: written language of his own. For following the englishman's entry,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: it made a few characters of its own.
• 1:11:14
  Speaker 2: You will come here again just before lua hides his
• 1:11:18
  Speaker 2: face behind the great cliff, announced the creature, unless before
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 2: that you are summoned by him who speaks for Luata,
• 1:11:25
  Speaker 2: in which case you will not have to eat any more.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 1: Reassuring cus thought Bradley as he turned and left the building.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: Outside were several wiirus that had been eating at the
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: pedestals within. They immediately surrounded him, asking all sorts of questions,
• 1:11:43
  Speaker 1: plucking at his garments, his ammunition belt, and his pistol.
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: Their demeanor was entirely different from what it had been
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 1: within the eating place, and Bradley was to learn that
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: a house of food was sanctuary for him, since the
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: stern laws of the wirus forbade altercation within such walls.
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: Now they were rough and threatening, as with wings half spread,
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 1: they hovered about him in menacing attitudes, barring his way
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 1: to the ladder leading to the roof. From whence he
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: had descended. But the Englishman was not one to brook
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: interference for long. He attempted at first to push his
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: way past them, and then, when one seized his arm
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 1: and jerked him roughly back, Bradley swung upon the creature, and,
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 1: with a heavy bloat at the jaw, felled it instantly.
• 1:12:29
  Speaker 1: Pandemonium rained, loud wails arose, great wings opened and clothed
• 1:12:35
  Speaker 1: with a loud beating noise, and many claw like hands
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: reached forth to clutch him. Bradley struck to right and left.
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: He dared not use his pistol for fear that once
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 1: they discovered its power, he would be overcome by weight
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 1: of numbers and relieved of possession of what he considered
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: his trump card, to be reserved until the last moment,
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: that it might be used to aid in his escape,
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: for already the Englishman was planning, though almost hopelessly, such
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 1: an attempt. A few blows convinced Bradley that the Weirus
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 1: were errant cowards, and that they bore no weapons. For
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: after two or three had fallen beneath his fists, the
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: others formed a circle about him, but at a safe distance,
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 1: and contented themselves with threatening and blustering, while those whom
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 1: he had felled lay upon the pavement without trying to arise,
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 1: the while they moaned and wailed in lugubrious chorus. Again,
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: Bradley strode toward the latter, and this time the circle
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: parted before him. But no sooner had he ascended a
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: few rungs than he was seized by one foot, and
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: an effort made to drag him down with a quick
• 1:13:43
  Speaker 1: backward glance. The Englishman, clinging firmly to the latter with
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 1: both hands, drew up his free foot and with all
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 1: the strength of a powerful leg, planted a heavy shoe
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: squarely in the flat face of the whiru that held him.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: Shrieking horribly, the creature clapped both hands to its face
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: and sank to the ground, while Bradley clamored quickly the
• 1:14:04
  Speaker 1: remaining distance to the roof, though no sooner did he
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 1: reach the top of the ladder than a great flapping
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: of wings beneath him warned him that the weirus were
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: rising after him. A moment later they swarmed about his
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 1: head as he ran for the apartment in which he
• 1:14:20
  Speaker 1: had spent the early hours of the morning after his arrival.
• 1:14:24
  Speaker 1: It was but a short distance from the top of
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: the ladder to the doorway, and Bradley had almost reached
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 1: his goal when the door flew open and foss Balsage
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 1: stepped out. Immediately, the pursuing weirus demanded punishment of the
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: Jelup who had so grievously maltreated them. Boss Balsage listened
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: to their complaints, and then, with a sudden sweep of
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 1: his right hand, seized Bradley by the scruff of the
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: neck and hurled him sprawling through the doorway upon the
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: floor of the chamber. So sudden was the assault, and
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: so surprising the strength of the Wiru, that the English
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: and was taken completely off his guard. When he arose,
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 1: the door was closed and fosh Balsage was standing over him.
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: His hideous face contorted into an expression of rage and hatred.
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 2: Hyena snake lizard, he screamed.
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 5: You would dare lay your low, vile, profaning hands upon
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 5: even the lowliest of the weirus, the sacred chosen of Luata.
• 1:15:24
  Speaker 1: Bradley was mad, and so he spoke in a very low,
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: calm voice, while a half smile played across his lips,
• 1:15:32
  Speaker 1: but his cold gray eyes were unsmiling. What you did
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: to me just now? He said, I am going to
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 1: kill you for that, and even as he spoke, he
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 1: launched himself at the throat of fosh Balsage. The other
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: Whiru that had been asleep when Bradley left the chamber
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: had departed, and the two were alone. Fosh Balsage displayed
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: little of the cowardice of those that had attacked Bradley
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: in the alleyway, but that may have been because he
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: had so slight uportunity, for Bradley had him by the
• 1:16:02
  Speaker 1: throat before he could utter a cry, and with his
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 1: right hand struck him heavily and repeatedly upon his face
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: and over his heart, ugly smashing, short arm jabs of
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: the sort that take the fight out of a man
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 1: in quick time. But fosh Balsage was of no mind
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: to die passively. He clawed and struck it Bradley, while
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 1: with his great wings he attempted to shield himself from
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 1: the merciless rain of blows, at the same time searching
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: for a hold upon his antagonist's throat. Presently, he succeeded
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: in tripping the Englishman, and together the two fell heavily
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: to the floor. Bradley underneath, and at the same instant
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: the whirrou fastened his long talons about the other's windpipe.
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: Fosh Balsage was possessed of enormous strength, and he was
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: fighting for his life. The Englishman soon realized that the
• 1:16:53
  Speaker 1: battle was going against him. Already, his lungs were pounding
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: painfully for air. As he reached for his pistol. It
• 1:17:01
  Speaker 1: was with difficulty that he drew it from its holster,
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: and even then, with death staring him in the face,
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 1: he thought of his precious ammunition. Cont waste it, he thought,
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 1: and slipping his fingers to the barrel, he raised the
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 1: weapon and struck fosh Balsage a terrific blow between the eyes. Instantly,
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: the claw like fingers released their hold, and the creature
• 1:17:23
  Speaker 1: sank limply to the floor beside Bradley, who lay for
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: several minutes, gasping painfully in an effort to regain his breath.
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 1: When he was able, he rose and leaned close over
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 1: the weiru, lying silent and motionless, his wings dropping limply,
• 1:17:39
  Speaker 1: and his great round eyes staring blankly toward the ceiling.
• 1:17:43
  Speaker 1: A brief examination convinced Bradley that the thing was dead.
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 1: And with the conviction came an overwhelming sense of the
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 1: dangers which must now confront him. But how was he
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: to escape? His first thought was to find some means
• 1:17:58
  Speaker 1: for concealing the evidence of his deed, and then to
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 1: make a bold effort to escape. Stepping to the second door,
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 1: he pushed it gently open and peered in upon what
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: seemed to be its store room. In it was a
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: litter of cloth, such as the Wirrou's robes were fashioned
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: from a number of chests painted blue and white, with
• 1:18:18
  Speaker 1: white hybridglyphics painted in bold strokes upon the blue, and
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 1: blue hieroglyphics upon the white. In one corner was a
• 1:18:26
  Speaker 1: pile of human skulls reaching almost to the ceiling, and
• 1:18:30
  Speaker 1: in another a stack of dried wiru wings. The chamber
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 1: was as irregularly shaped as the other, and had but
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 1: a single window and a second door at the further end,
• 1:18:42
  Speaker 1: but was without the exit through the roof, and most
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: important of all, there was no creature of any sort
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 1: in it. As quickly as possible, Bradley dragged the dead
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: Wairu through the doorway and closed the door. Then he
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 1: looked about for a place to conceal the corpse. One
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: of the chests was large enough to hold the body
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: if the knees were bent well up, and with this
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: idea in view, Bradley approached the chest to open it.
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: The lid was made in two pieces, each being hinged
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: at an opposite end of the chest and joining nicely
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: where they met in the center of the chest, making
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: a snug, well fitting joint. There was no lock. Bradley
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 1: raised one half the cover and looked in with a
• 1:19:25
  Speaker 1: smothered by jove. He bent closer to examine the contents.
• 1:19:30
  Speaker 1: The chest was about half filled with an assortment of
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: golden trinkets. There were what appeared to be bracelets, anklets,
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: and brooches of virgin gold. Realizing that there was no
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 1: room in the chest for the body of the Whiru,
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: Bradley turned to seek another means of concealing the evidence
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: of his crime. There was a space between the chests
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: and the wall, and into this he forced the corpse,
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 1: piling the discarded robes upon it until it was entirely
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 1: hidden from sight. But now how was he to make
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: good his escape? In the bright glare of that early
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: spring day, he walked to the door at the far
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: end of the apartment and cautiously opened it. An inch
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: before him, and about two feet away was the blank
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: wall of another building. Bradley opened the door a little
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: farther and looked in both directions. There was no one
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: in sight. To the left over a considerable expanse of
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: roof top, and to the right another building shut off
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: his line of vision at about twenty feet. Slipping out,
• 1:20:32
  Speaker 1: he turned to the right and in a few steps
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: found a narrow passageway between two buildings. Turning into this,
• 1:20:39
  Speaker 1: he passed about half its length when he saw a
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: whirroo appear at the opposite end and halt. The creature
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: was not looking down the passageway, but at any moment
• 1:20:49
  Speaker 1: it might turn its eyes toward him, when he would
• 1:20:51
  Speaker 1: be immediately discovered. To Bradley's left was a triangular niche
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 1: in the wall of one of the houses, and into
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: this he docked, thus concealing himself from the sight of
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: the whiru. Beside him was a door painted a vivid
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 1: yellow and constructed after the same fashion as the other
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: whiru doors he had seen, being made up of countless
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: narrow strips of wood from four to six inches in length,
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 1: laid on in patches of about the same width, the
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: strips in adjacent patches never running in the same direction.
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: The result bore some resemblance to a crazy patchwork quilt,
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 1: which was heightened when, as in one of the doors
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: he had seen, contiguous patches were painted different colors. The
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: strips appeared to have been bound together and to the
• 1:21:39
  Speaker 1: underlying framework of the door with gut or fiber, and
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: also glued, after which a thick coating of paint had
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 1: been applied. One edge of the door was formed of
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: a straight, round pole about two inches in diameter that
• 1:21:54
  Speaker 1: protruded at top and bottom the projections, setting in round
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 1: holes in both lintel and sill, forming the axis upon
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: which the door swung. An eccentric disk upon the inside
• 1:22:07
  Speaker 1: face of the door engaged a slot in the frame
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: when it was desired to secure the door against intruders.
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: As Bradley stood flattened against the wall waiting for the
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: whiru to move on, he heard the creature's wings brushing
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: against the sides of the buildings as it made its
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 1: way down the narrow passage in his direction. As the
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 1: yellow door offered the only means of escape without detection,
• 1:22:32
  Speaker 1: the Englishman decided to risk whatever might lie beyond it,
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: and so boldly pushing it in, he crossed the threshold
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: and entered a small apartment. As he did so, he
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 1: heard a muffled ejaculation of surprise, and turning his eyes
• 1:22:47
  Speaker 1: in the direction from whence the sound had come, he
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: beheld a wide eyed girl standing flattened against the opposite wall,
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 1: an expression of incredulity upon her face. At a glance,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: he saw that she was of no race of humans
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 1: that he had come in contact with since his arrival
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: upon Kaprona. There was no trace about her form or
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: features of any relationship to those low orders of men,
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: nor was she apparelled as they, or rather she did
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: not entirely lack apparel as did most of them. A
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: soft hide felled from her left shoulder to just below
• 1:23:21
  Speaker 1: her left hip on one side, and almost to her
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: right knee on the other. A loose girdle was about
• 1:23:27
  Speaker 1: her waist, and golden ornaments such as he had seen
• 1:23:31
  Speaker 1: in the blue and white chest, encircled her arms and legs,
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 1: while a golden filet with a triangular diadem bound her
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: heavy hair above her brows. Her skin was white, as
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: from long confinement within doors, but it was clear and fine.
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 1: Her figure, partially concealed by the soft deer skin, was
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: all curves of symmetry and youthful grace. While her features
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: might easily have been the envy of the most feted
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: of continental beauty. If the girl was surprised by the
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: sudden appearance of Bradley, the latter was absolutely astounded to
• 1:24:07
  Speaker 1: discover so wondrous a creature among the hideous inhabitants of
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 1: the city of human skulls. For a moment, the two
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: looked at one another in unconcealed consternation, and then Bradley spoke,
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 1: using to the best of his poor ability, the common
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 1: tongue of cast back. Who are you, he asked, and
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 1: from where do you come? Do not tell me that
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: you are a wiru. No, she replied, I am no wiru,
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 1: and she shuddered slightly as she pronounced the word. I
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: am a Galu. But who and what are you? I
• 1:24:40
  Speaker 1: am sure that you are no Galu from your garments,
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: but you are like the galous in other respects. I
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: know that you are not of this frightful city, for
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 1: I have been here for almost ten moons and never
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: have I seen a male galu. Brought hither before. Nor
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 1: are there such as you and I other than prisoners
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: in the land of Uo, And these are all females.
• 1:25:02
  Speaker 1: Are you a prisoner?
• 1:25:03
  Speaker 3: Then?
• 1:25:04
  Speaker 1: He told her briefly who and what he was, though
• 1:25:07
  Speaker 1: he doubted if she understood. And from her he learned
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: that she had been a prisoner there for many months.
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: But for what purpose he did not then learn. As
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: in the midst of their conversation, the yellow door swung open,
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: and a wieroo with a robe slashed with yellow entered
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: at sight of Bradley. The creature became furious.
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 2: Whence came this reptile. It demanded the girl, how long
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 2: has it been here with you? It came through the
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 2: doorway just ahead of you. Bradley answered for the girl.
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 2: The weiru looked relieved. It is well for the girl
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 2: that this is so, it said, for now only you
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 2: will have to die.
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: And stepping to the door, the creature raised its voice
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: in one of those uncanny, depressing wails. The Englishman looked
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: toward the girl. Shall I kill it? He asked, half
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: drawing his pistol, What is best to do? I do
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 1: not wish to endanger you. The wharoo backed toward the door.
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 2: Defier, it screamed, you dare to threaten one of the
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 2: sacred chosen of Luata.
• 1:26:10
  Speaker 1: Do not kill him, cried the girl, for then there
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: could be no hope for you. That you are here
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: alive shows that they may not intend to kill you
• 1:26:18
  Speaker 1: at all, And so there is a chance for you
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: if you do not anger them, but touch him in violence,
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: and your bleat skul will top the loftiest pedestal of
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 1: u Oh. And what of you, asked Bradley. I am
• 1:26:32
  Speaker 1: already doomed, replied the girl. I am cosatloe, cosatlo, cossatloo.
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: What did these phrases mean that they were so oft
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 1: repeated by the denizens of u Oh, lou and lo,
• 1:26:47
  Speaker 1: Bradley new to mean man and woman. Ato was employed
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: variously to indicate live eggs, young reproduction, and kindred subject.
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 1: Coss was a negative, but in combination they were meaningless
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 1: to the European. Do you mean they will kill you,
• 1:27:04
  Speaker 1: asked Bradley. I but wish that they would, replied the girl.
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 1: My fate is to be worse than death in just
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: a few nights more, With the coming of the.
• 1:27:13
  Speaker 2: New moon, poor sea snake snapped the whiru you are
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 2: to become sacred above all other. Shees he who speaks
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 2: for Luata has chosen you for himself. To day you
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 2: go to his temple. The Weiru used a phrase meaning
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 2: literally high place where you will receive the sacred command.
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 2: The girl shuddered and cast a sorrowful glance toward Bradley Ah.
• 1:27:39
  Speaker 2: She sighed, if I could but see my beloved country
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 2: once again. The man stepped suddenly close to her side
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 2: before the Weiru could interpose, and in a low voice,
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 2: asked her if there was no way by which he
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 2: might encompass her escape. She shook her head sorrowfully. Even
• 1:27:57
  Speaker 2: if we escaped the city, she replied, there is the
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 2: big water between the island of u Oh and the
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 2: galous shore, and what is beyond the city if we
• 1:28:06
  Speaker 2: could leave it, pursued Bradley. I may only guess from
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 2: what I have heard since I was brought here, she answered,
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 2: But by reports and chance remarks, I take it to
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 2: be a beautiful land in which there are but few
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 2: wild beasts and no men, For only the weirus live
• 1:28:23
  Speaker 2: upon this island, and they dwell always in cities, of
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 2: which there are three, this being the largest, the others
• 1:28:30
  Speaker 2: are at the far end of the island, which is
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 2: about three marches from end to end and at its
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 2: widest point about one march. From his own experience and
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 2: from what the natives on the mainland had told him,
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 2: Bradley knew that ten miles was a good day's march
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 2: in Caspack, owing to the fact that at most points
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 2: it was a trackless wilderness, and at all times travelers
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 2: were beset by hideous beasts and reptiles that greatly impeded
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 2: rapid progress. The two had spoken rapidly, but were now
• 1:29:02
  Speaker 2: interrupted by the advent through the opening in the roof
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 2: of several whirus, who had come in answer to the
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 2: alarm it of the yellow slashing had uttered. This jerou cried,
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 2: the offended one has threatened me take its hatchet from
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 2: it and make it fast where it can do no
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 2: harm until he who speaks for Loota has said what
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 2: shall be done with it. It is one of those
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 2: strange creatures that fosch Valsage discovered first above the Bandloo country,
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 2: and followed back towards the beginning. He who speaks for
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 2: Luata sent fosh Valsage to fetch him one of the creatures,
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 2: and here it is. It is his hope that it
• 1:29:40
  Speaker 2: may be from another world and hold the secrets of
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 2: the Cosantaloos.
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 1: The Whirus approached boldly to take Bradley's hatchet from him,
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: their leader having indicated the pistol hanging in its holster
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: at the englishman's hip. But the first one went reeling
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: backward against his fellows from the blow to the chin,
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: which Bradley followed up with a rush and the intention
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 1: to clean up the room in record time. But he
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 1: had reckoned without the opening in the roof. Two were down,
• 1:30:09
  Speaker 1: and a great wailing and moaning was arising when reinforcements
• 1:30:13
  Speaker 1: appeared from above. Bradley did not see them, but the
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 1: girl did, and though she cried out a warning, it
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: came too late for him to avoid a large Whiru
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: who dived head foremost for him, striking him between the
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 1: shoulders and bearing him to the floor. Instantly a dozen
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: more were piling on top of him. His pistol was
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: wrenched from its holster, and he was securely pinioned down
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: by the weight of numbers. At a word from the
• 1:30:39
  Speaker 1: Weiru of the yellow slashing, who evidently was a person
• 1:30:43
  Speaker 1: of authority, one left and presently returned with fiber ropes
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: with which Bradley was tightly bound. Now bear him to
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 1: the blue place of seven.
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 2: Skulls, directed the chief whirrou and one take the word
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 2: of all that had passed to him, who speaks for Luata.
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 1: Each of the creatures raised a hand the back against
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 1: its face, as though in salute. One seized Bradley and
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: carried him through the yellow doorway to the roof, from
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 1: whence it rose upon its wide spread wings, and flapped
• 1:31:14
  Speaker 1: off across the rooftops of oo Oh, with its heavy
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 1: burden clutched in its long talons. Below him, Bradley could
• 1:31:21
  Speaker 1: see the city stretching away to a distance. On every hand,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: it was not as large as he had imagined, though
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 1: he judged that it was at least three miles square.
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: The houses were piled in indescribable heaps, sometimes to a
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: height of a hundred feet. The streets and alleys were
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: short and crooked, and there were many areas where buildings
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: had been wedged in so closely that no light could
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 1: possibly reach the lowest tiers, the entire surface of the
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 1: ground being packed solidly with them. The colors were varied
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: and startling. The architecture amazing. Many roofs were cup or
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 1: saucer shaped, with a small hole in the center of each,
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: as though they had been constructed to catch rain water
• 1:32:04
  Speaker 1: and conduct it to a reservoir beneath, but nearly all
• 1:32:08
  Speaker 1: the others had the large opening in the top that
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: Bradley had seen used by these flying men. In lieu
• 1:32:14
  Speaker 1: of doorways. At all levels were the myriad poles surmounted
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: by grinning skulls. But the two most prominent features of
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: the city were the round tower of human skulls that
• 1:32:26
  Speaker 1: Bradley had noted earlier in the day, and another and
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: much larger edifice near the center of the city. As
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: they approached it, Bradley saw that it was a huge building,
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: rising a hundred feet in height from the ground, and
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 1: that it stood alone in the center of what might
• 1:32:41
  Speaker 1: have been called a plaza in some other part of
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 1: the world. Its various parts, however, were set together with
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 1: the same strange irregularity that marked the architecture of the
• 1:32:52
  Speaker 1: city as a whole, and it was capped by an
• 1:32:55
  Speaker 1: enormous saucer shaped roof which projected far beyond the eaves,
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 1: having the appearance of a colossal Chinese coolie hat inverted.
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 1: The Wieru bearing Bradley passed over one corner of the
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 1: open space about the large building, revealing to the englishman's
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 1: grass and trees and running water beneath. They passed the building,
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: and about five hundred yards beyond, the creature alighted on
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: the roof of a square blue building surmounted by seven
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 1: poles bearing seven skulls. This, then, thought Bradley, is the
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 1: blue place of seven skulls. Over the opening in the
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 1: roof was a grated covering, and this the Wiiru removed.
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: The thing then tied a piece of fiber rope to
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 1: one of Bradley's ankles and rolled him over the edge
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 1: of the opening. All was dark below, and for an
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 1: instant the Englishman came as near to experiencing real terror
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 1: as he had ever come in his life before. As
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 1: he rolled off into the black abyss, he felt the
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 1: rope tighten about his ankle, and an instant later he
• 1:33:57
  Speaker 1: was stopped with a sudden jerk to swing pendulum light
• 1:34:01
  Speaker 1: head downward. Then the creature lowered away until Bradley's head
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: came in sudden and painful contact with the floor below,
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 1: after which the Weiru let loose of the rope entirely,
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: and the Englishman's body crashed to the wooden planking. He
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: felt the free end of the rope dropped upon him,
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 1: and heard the grating being slid into place above him.
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter two, Chapter three. Half stunned, Bradley lay
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 1: for a minute as he had fallen, and then slowly
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: and painfully wriggled into a less uncomfortable position. He could
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: see nothing of his surroundings in the gloom about him,
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: until after a few minutes his eyes became accustomed to
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: the dark interior. When he rolled them from side to
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: side in survey of his prison, he discovered himself to
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 1: be in a bare room which was windowless, nor could
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: he see any other opening than that through which he
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 1: had been lowered. In one corner was a huddled as
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: that might have been almost anything from a bundle of
• 1:35:03
  Speaker 1: rags to a dead body. Almost immediately after he had
• 1:35:07
  Speaker 1: taken his bearings, Bradley commenced working with his bonds. He
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 1: was a man of powerful physique, and as from the
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: first he had been imbued with a belief that the
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 1: fiber ropes were too weak to hold him, he worked
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: on with firm conviction that sooner or later they would
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: part to his strainings. After a matter of five minutes,
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: he was positive that the strands about his wrists were
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 1: beginning to give, but he was compelled to rest then
• 1:35:35
  Speaker 1: from exhaustion. As he lay, his eyes rested upon the
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: bundle in the corner, and presently he could have sworn
• 1:35:43
  Speaker 1: that the thing moved. With eyes straining through the gloom,
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 1: the man lay watching the grim and sinister thing in
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: the corner. Perhaps his overwroughten nerves were playing a sorry
• 1:35:54
  Speaker 1: joke upon him. He thought of this, and also that
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 1: his condition of utter helplessness might still further have stimulated
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 1: his imagination. He closed his eyes and sought to relax
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 1: his muscles and his nerves. But when he looked again,
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 1: he knew that he had not been mistaken. The thing
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: had moved. Now it lay in a slightly altered form,
• 1:36:16
  Speaker 1: and farther from the wall, it was nearer him. With
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: renewed strength, Bradley strained at his bonds, his fascinated gaze
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 1: still glued upon the shapeless bundle. No longer was there
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 1: any doubt that it moved. He saw it rise in
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 1: the center several inches, and then creep closer to him,
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 1: it sank and rose again, a headless, hideous, monstrous thing
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: of menace. Its very silence rendered it the more terrible.
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: Bradley was a brave man, ordinarily his nerves were of steel.
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 1: But to be at the mercy of some unknown and
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: nameless horror, to be unable to defend himself, it was
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: these things that almost unstrung him. For best, he was
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: only human to stand in the open, even with the
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: odds all against him, to be able to use his fifts,
• 1:37:07
  Speaker 1: to put up some sort of defense, to inflict punishment
• 1:37:11
  Speaker 1: upon his adversary. Then he could face death with a smile.
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: It was not death that he feared now, it was
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 1: that horror of the unknown at his part, of the
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: fiber of every son of woman. Closer and closer came
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 1: the shapeless mass. Bradley lay motionless and listened. What was
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: that he heard breathing? He could not be mistaken, And
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: then from out of the bundle of rags issued a
• 1:37:37
  Speaker 1: hollow groan. Bradley felt his hair rise upon his head.
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 1: He struggled with the slowly parting strands that held him.
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 1: The thing beside him rose up higher than before, and
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: the Englishman could have sworn that he saw a single
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 1: eye peering at him from among the tumbled cloth. For
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: a moment, the bundle remained motionless, only the sound of
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 1: breathing issued from it. Then there broke from it a
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: maniacal laugh. Cold sweat stood upon Bradley's brow. As he
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: tugged for liberation, he saw the rags rise higher and
• 1:38:12
  Speaker 1: higher above him, until at last they tumbled upon the
• 1:38:15
  Speaker 1: floor from the body of a naked man, A thin,
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 1: a bony, a hideous caricature of a man that mouthed
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 1: and mummed and wobbling upon its weak and shaking legs,
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: crumpled to the floor again, still laughing, laughing horribly, it
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: crawled toward Bradley.
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 3: Food.
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 1: Food, It screamed, there.
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 3: Is a way out, There is a way out.
• 1:38:39
  Speaker 1: Dragging itself to his side, the creature slumped upon the
• 1:38:43
  Speaker 1: Englishman's breast.
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 2: Food.
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 1: It shrilled as with its bony fingers and its teeth.
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: It sought the man's bare throat food. There is a
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: way out. Bradley felt teeth upon his jugular. He turned
• 1:38:58
  Speaker 1: and twisted, shaking himself free for an instant, but once more,
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 1: with hideous persistence, the thing fastened itself upon him. The
• 1:39:07
  Speaker 1: weak jaws were unable to send the dull teeth through
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 1: the victim's flesh, but Bradley felt it pawing, pawing, pawing,
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: like a monstrous rat seeking his life's blood. The skinny
• 1:39:20
  Speaker 1: arms now embraced his neck, holding the teeth to his throat.
• 1:39:23
  Speaker 1: Against all his efforts to dislodge the thing. Weak as
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 1: it was, it had strength enough for this in its
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 1: mad efforts to eat. Mumbling as it worked, it repeated
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: again and again, food, food, There is a way out.
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: Until Bradley thought those two expressions alone would drive him mad,
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: and all but mad he was, as with a final
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 1: effort back by almost maniacal strength, he tore his wrist
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 1: from the confining bonds, and, grasping the repulsive thing upon
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: his breast, hurled it half way across the room, Panting
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: like a spent hound, madly worked at the thongs about
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 1: his ankles, while the maniac lay, quivering and mumbling where
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 1: it had fallen. Presently, the Englishman leaped to his feet,
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: freer than he had ever before felt in all his life,
• 1:40:13
  Speaker 1: though he was still hopelessly a prisoner in the blue
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: place of seven skulls, with his back against the wall
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: for support. So weak the reaction left him. Bradley stood
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: watching the creature upon the floor. He saw it move
• 1:40:28
  Speaker 1: and slowly raise itself to its hands and knees, where
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: it swayed to and fro as its eyes roved about
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: in search of him, And when at last they found him,
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 1: there broke from the drawn lips the mumbled words.
• 1:40:41
  Speaker 3: Food, food, there is a way out.
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 1: The pitiful supplication in the tones touched the Englishman's heart.
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: He knew that this would be no weiru, but possibly
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 1: once a man like himself, who had been cast into
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: this pit of solitary confinement, with this hidden result that
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 1: might in time be his fate also. And then too
• 1:41:05
  Speaker 1: there was the suggestion of hope, held out by the
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 1: constant reiteration of the phrase there is a way out?
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: Was there a way out? What did this poor thing know?
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: Who are you? And how long have you been here?
• 1:41:19
  Speaker 1: Bradley suddenly demanded For a moment. The man upon the
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 1: floor made no response, then mumblingly came the words food, food, Stop,
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 1: commanded the Englishman. The injunction might have been barked from
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: the muzzle of a pistol. It brought the man to
• 1:41:37
  Speaker 1: a sitting posture, his hands off the ground. He stopped
• 1:41:40
  Speaker 1: swaying to and fro, and appeared to be startled into
• 1:41:44
  Speaker 1: an attempt to master his faculties of concentration and thought.
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 1: Bradley repeated his questions sharply. I am Antac, the galoo,
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 1: replied the man. Luata alone knows how long I have
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: been here? May be ten moons, maybe ten moons three times.
• 1:42:03
  Speaker 1: It was the Caspakian equivalent of thirty.
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 6: I was young and strong when they brought me here.
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 6: Now I am old and very weak. I am Cossattloo.
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 6: That is why they have not killed me. If I
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 6: tell them the secret of becoming Cossattloo, they will take
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 6: me out. But how can I tell them that which
• 1:42:25
  Speaker 6: Luata alone knows? What is Cossattaloo, demanded Bradley.
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 3: Food?
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: Food, There is a way out, mumbled the gallow. Bradley
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: strode across the floor, seized the man by his shoulders
• 1:42:40
  Speaker 1: and shook him. Tell me, he cried, what is Cossattloo, fold,
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 1: whimpered Antac. Bradley bethought himself his haversack had not been
• 1:42:51
  Speaker 1: taken from him in it besides his razor and knife,
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 1: were odds and ends of equipment, and a small quantity
• 1:42:58
  Speaker 1: of dried meat. He tossed a small strip of the
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 1: latter to the starving galu. Antac seized upon it and
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: devoured it ravenously. It instilled new life in the man.
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: What is Cossatloo, insisted Bradley. Again. Antac tried to explain.
• 1:43:17
  Speaker 1: His narrative was often broken by lapses of concentration, during
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: which he reverted to his plaintive mumbling for food, and
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: recurrence to the statement that there was a way out.
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: But by firmness and patience the Englishman drew out, piecemeal
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 1: a more or less lucid exposition of the remarkable scheme
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: of evolution that rules in castpack. In it, he found
• 1:43:41
  Speaker 1: explanations of the hitherto inexplicable. He discovered why he had
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: seen no babes or children among the Caspakian tribes with
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: which he had come in contact, Why each more northerly
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: tribe evinced a higher state of development than those south
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: of them, why each tribe included individuals ranging in physical
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: and mental characteristics from the highest of the next lower
• 1:44:05
  Speaker 1: race to the lowest of the next higher and why
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: the women of each tribe immersed themselves each morning for
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 1: an hour or more in the warm pools near which
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 1: the habitations of their people always were located. And two
• 1:44:19
  Speaker 1: he discovered why those pools were almost immune from the
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 1: attacks of carnivorous animals and reptiles. He learned that all
• 1:44:27
  Speaker 1: but those who were cossatledoo came up coarse vajo or
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: from the beginning. The egg from which they first developed
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: into tadpole form, was deposited with millions of others in
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: one of the warm pools, and with it a poisonous
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 1: serum that the carnivora instinctively shunned. Down the warm stream
• 1:44:47
  Speaker 1: from the pool floated the countless billions of eggs and tadpoles,
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: developing as they drifted slowly toward the sea. Some became
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 1: tadpoles in the pool, some in the sluggish stream, and
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: some not until they reached the Great Inland Sea. In
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: the next stage, they became fishes or reptiles. Antac was
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: not positive which, and in this form, always developing, they
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 1: swam far to the south, where amid the rank and
• 1:45:16
  Speaker 1: teeming jungles, some of them evolved into amphibians. Always there
• 1:45:22
  Speaker 1: were those whose developments stopped at the first stage, others
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: whose development ceased when they became reptiles. While by far
• 1:45:30
  Speaker 1: the greater proportion formed the food supply of the ravenous
• 1:45:33
  Speaker 1: creatures of the deep, few, indeed, were those that eventually
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 1: developed into baboons and then apes, which was considered by
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 1: Castackians the real beginning of evolution. From the egg, then
• 1:45:47
  Speaker 1: the individual developed slowly into a higher form, just as
• 1:45:52
  Speaker 1: the frog's egg develops through various stages, from a fish
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 1: with gills to a frog with lungs. With that thought
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 1: in mind, Bradley discovered that it was not difficult to
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 1: believe in the possibility of such a scheme. There was
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: nothing new in it. From the eighth the individual, if
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 1: it survived, slowly developed into the lowest orderer of man,
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: the Alu, and then by degrees to Bolu, Stolu, Bandloo, Crowlu,
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: and finally Gallu, and in each stage countless millions of
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 1: other eggs were deposited in the warm pools of the
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 1: various races and floated down to the Great Sea to
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 1: go through a similar process of evolution outside the womb
• 1:46:35
  Speaker 1: as develops our own young within, but in Caspack. The
• 1:46:39
  Speaker 1: scheme is much more inclusive, for it combines not only
• 1:46:43
  Speaker 1: individual development, but the evolution of species in genera. If
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 1: an egg survives, it goes through all the stages of
• 1:46:51
  Speaker 1: development that man has passed through during the unthinkable eons
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 1: since life first moved upon the Earth's face. The final stage,
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 1: that which the Galus have almost attained and for which
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 1: all hope is cosatlou, which literally means no egg man,
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 1: or one who is born directly, as are the young
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 1: of the outer world of mammals. Some of the galous
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 1: produce cosatlou and cosateloe, both the wirus only cosatloo. In
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: other words, all wirus are born male, and so they
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: prey upon the Galus for their women, and sometimes capture
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: and torture the Galu men who are cosatlou, in an
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: endeavor to learn the secret, which they believe will give
• 1:47:38
  Speaker 1: them unlimited power over all other denizens of cast back.
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: No wirus come up from the beginning. All are born
• 1:47:46
  Speaker 1: of the Wiru fathers and Galu mothers who are cossatloe,
• 1:47:50
  Speaker 1: and there are very few of the latter, owing to
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 1: the long and precarious stages of development. Seven generations of
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 1: the same ancestor must come out up from the beginning
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: before a Cossatalou child may be borne, and when one
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: considers the frightful dangers that surround the vital spark from
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 1: the moment it leaves the warm pool where it has
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 1: been deposited to float down to the sea amid the
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: voracious creatures that swarm the surface and the deeps, and
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: the almost equally unthinkable trials of its effort to survive
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 1: after it once becomes a land animal and starts northward
• 1:48:27
  Speaker 1: through the horrors of the Caspaki in jungles and forests.
• 1:48:30
  Speaker 1: It is plainly a wonder that even a single babe
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: has ever been borne to a galou woman. Seven cycles
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 1: it requires before the seventh galu can complete the seventh
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 1: danger infested circle, since its first gallou ancestor achieve the
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 1: state of galu for ages before the ancestors of this
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: first galu may have developed from a bandloo or bolu
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: egg without ever once completing the whole circle, that is,
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 1: from a galow egg back to a fully developed galow.
• 1:49:05
  Speaker 1: Bradley's head was whirling before he even commenced to grasp
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 1: the complexities of Caspackian evolution. But as the truth slowly
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: filtered into his understanding, as gradually it became possible for
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: him to visualize the scheme, it appeared simpler. In fact,
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 1: it seemed even less difficult of comprehension than that with
• 1:49:26
  Speaker 1: which he was familiar. For several minutes after antac cease speaking,
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: his voice having trailed off weakly into silence, neither spoke again.
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 1: Then the galou recommenced his food.
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 3: Food, there is a way out.
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 1: Bradley tossed him another bit of dried meat, waiting patiently
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: until he had eaten it, this time more slowly. What
• 1:49:51
  Speaker 1: do you mean by saying there is a way out?
• 1:49:54
  Speaker 1: He asked, He who died here just after I came
• 1:49:59
  Speaker 1: told me, replied Antag. He said there was a way out,
• 1:50:03
  Speaker 1: that he had discovered it, but was too weak to
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: use his knowledge. He was trying to tell me how
• 1:50:09
  Speaker 1: to find it when he died old water if he
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 1: had lived but a moment more. They do not feed
• 1:50:16
  Speaker 1: you here, asked Bradley. No, they give me water once
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: a day, that is all. But how have you lived them?
• 1:50:26
  Speaker 1: The lizards and the rats, replied Antag. The lizards are
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 1: not so bad, but the rats are foul to taste. However,
• 1:50:35
  Speaker 1: I must eat them or they would eat me. And
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 1: they are better than nothing. But of late they do
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: not come so often, and I have not had a
• 1:50:43
  Speaker 1: lizard for a long time. I shall eat, though, he mumbled,
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 1: I shall eat now, for you cannot remain awake forever.
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 1: He laughed, a cackling, dry laugh. When you sleep and
• 1:50:56
  Speaker 1: tak will eat. It was horrible. Bradley shuddered for a
• 1:51:02
  Speaker 1: long time. Each sat in silence. The Englishman could guess
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 1: why the other made no sound. He awaited the moment
• 1:51:09
  Speaker 1: that sleep should overcome his victim. In the long silence,
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: there was borne upon Bradley's ears a faint, monotonous sound,
• 1:51:17
  Speaker 1: as of running water. He listened intently. It seemed to
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 1: come from far beneath the floor. What is that noise,
• 1:51:25
  Speaker 1: he asked, That sounds like water running through a narrow channel.
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 1: It is the river, replied Antac. Why do you not
• 1:51:34
  Speaker 1: go to sleep? It passes directly beneath the blue Place
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 1: of seven Skulls. It runs through the temple grounds, beneath
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 1: the temple, and under the city. When we die, they
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: will cut off our heads and throw our bodies into
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: the river. At the mouth of the river await many
• 1:51:52
  Speaker 1: large reptiles. Thus do they feed? The Weearos do likewise
• 1:51:57
  Speaker 1: with their own dead, keeping only the skulls and the wings.
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 1: Come let us sleep. Do the reptiles come up the
• 1:52:07
  Speaker 1: river into the city, asked Bradley. The water is too cold.
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: They never leave the warm water of the great pool,
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: replied an Tack. Let us search for the way out,
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: suggested Bradley. Antac shook his head. I have searched for
• 1:52:24
  Speaker 1: it all these moons, he said. If I could not
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 1: find it, how would you. Bradley made no reply, but
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 1: commenced a diligent examination of the walls and floor of
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: the room. Pressing over each square foot and tapping with
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 1: his knuckles. About six feet from the floor, he discovered
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: a sleeping perch near one end of the apartment. He
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 1: asked Dan Tac about it, but the galop said that
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 1: no whiru had occupied the place since he had been incarcerated.
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 2: There.
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 1: Again and again, Bradley went over the floor and walls
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: as high up as he could reach. Finally, he swung
• 1:53:02
  Speaker 1: himself to the perch that he might examine at least
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 1: one end of the room, all the way to the ceiling.
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 1: In the center of the wall. Close to the top,
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 1: an area of about three feet square, gave forth a
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 1: hollow sound when he rapped upon it. Bradley felt over
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 1: every square inch of that area with the tips of
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 1: his fingers. Near the top he found a small round hole,
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 1: a trifle larger in diameter than his forefinger, which he
• 1:53:28
  Speaker 1: immediately stuck into it. The panel, if such it was,
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 1: seemed about an inch thick, and beyond it his finger
• 1:53:36
  Speaker 1: encountered nothing. Bradley cooked his finger upon the opposite side
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 1: of the panel and pulled toward him steadily but with
• 1:53:44
  Speaker 1: considerable force. Suddenly the panel flew inward, nearly precipitating the
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 1: man to the floor. It was hinged at the bottom,
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 1: and when lowered, the outer edge rested upon the perch,
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 1: making a little platform parallel with the floor of the room.
• 1:54:00
  Speaker 1: Beyond the opening was an utterly dark void. The Englishman
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: leaned through it and reached his arm as far as
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 1: possible into the blackness, but touched nothing. Then he fumbled
• 1:54:12
  Speaker 1: in his haversack for a match, a few of which
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 1: remained to him. When he struck it, Antac gave a
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 1: cry of terror. Bradley held the light far into the
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: opening before him, and in its flickering rays saw the
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 1: top of the ladder descending into a black abyss below.
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: How far down it extended he could not guess, but
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 1: that he should soon know definitely. He was positive. You
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 1: have found it. You have found the way out, screamed
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 1: Antac old Water, and now I am too weak to go.
• 1:54:45
  Speaker 1: Take me with you. Take me with you. Shut up,
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 1: admonished Bradley. You will have the whole flock of birds
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 1: around our heads in a minute, and neither of us
• 1:54:55
  Speaker 1: will escape. Be quiet, and I'll go ahead. If I
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: find a way, I'll come back and help you. If
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 1: you'll promise not to try to eat me up again,
• 1:55:05
  Speaker 1: I promise, cried Antac.
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 3: Oh the water.
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: How could you blame me? I am half crazed of
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 1: hunger and long confinement and the horror of the lizards
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 1: and the rats, and the constant waiting for death. I know,
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 1: said Bradley, simply, I'm sorry for you, Old Top. Keep
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 1: a stiff upper lip, and he slipped through the opening,
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 1: found the ladder with his feet closed the panel behind him,
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 1: and started downward into the darkness. Below him rose more
• 1:55:37
  Speaker 1: and more distinctly the sound of running water. The air
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 1: felt damp and cool. He could see nothing of his surroundings,
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 1: and felt nothing but the smooth, worn sides and rungs
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 1: of the ladder, down which he felt his way cautiously,
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 1: lest a broken rung or a misstep should hurl him downward.
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 1: As he descended thus slowly, the ladder seemed interminable and
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 1: the pit bottomless. Yet he realized, when at last he
• 1:56:04
  Speaker 1: reached the bottom that he could not have descended more
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 1: than fifty feet. The bottom of the ladder rested on
• 1:56:10
  Speaker 1: a narrow ledge, paved with what felt like large round stones,
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 1: but what he knew from experience to be human skulls.
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 1: He could not but marvel as to where so many,
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: countless thousands of the things had come from, until he
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: paused to consider that the infancy of castpack dated doubtlessly
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: back into remote ages, far beyond what the outer world
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: considered the beginning of earthly time. For all these eons,
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 1: the weirus might have been collecting human skulls from their
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 1: enemies and their own dead, enough to have built an
• 1:56:47
  Speaker 1: entire city of them. Feeling his way along the narrow ledge,
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 1: Bradley came presently to a blank wall that stretched out
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 1: over the water swirling beneath him. As far as he
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 1: could reach stew he groped about with one hand, reaching
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: down toward the surface of the water, and discovered that
• 1:57:06
  Speaker 1: the bottom of the wall arched above the stream. How
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 1: much space there was between the water and the arch,
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 1: he could not tell, nor how deep the former. There
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 1: was only one way in which he might learn these things,
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: and that was to lure himself into the stream. For
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: only an instant he hesitated, weighing his chances. Behind him
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: lay almost certainly the horrid fate of Antak before him,
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 1: nothing worse than a comparatively painless death by drowning. Holding
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 1: his haversack above his head with one hand, he lured
• 1:57:40
  Speaker 1: his feet slowly over the edge of the narrow platform.
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 1: Almost immediately he felt the swirling of cold water about
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: his ankles, and then, with a silent prayer, he let
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: himself drop gently into the stream. Great was Bradley's relief
• 1:57:56
  Speaker 1: when he found the water no more than waist deep,
• 1:57:59
  Speaker 1: and beneath his feet a firm gravel bottom. Feeling his
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 1: way cautiously, he moved downward with the current, which was
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 1: not so strong as he had imagined from the noise
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: of the running water beneath the first arch. He made
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: his way, following the winding curvatures of the right hand wall.
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 1: After a few yards of progress, his hand came suddenly
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 1: in contact with a slimy thing clinging to the wall,
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: a thing that hissed and scuttled out of reach. What
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: it was the man could not know, But almost instantly
• 1:58:33
  Speaker 1: there was a splash in the water just ahead of him,
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: and then another. On he went, passing beneath other arches,
• 1:58:41
  Speaker 1: at varying distances, and always in utter darkness. Unseen denizens
• 1:58:46
  Speaker 1: of this great sewer, disturbed by the intruder, splashed into
• 1:58:50
  Speaker 1: the water ahead of him, and wriggled away. Time and
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 1: again his hand touched them, and never for an instant
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 1: could he be sure that at the next step some
• 1:58:59
  Speaker 1: gruesome thing might not attack him. He had strapped his
• 1:59:02
  Speaker 1: haversack about his neck, well above the surface of the water,
• 1:59:06
  Speaker 1: and in his left hand he carried his knife. Other
• 1:59:10
  Speaker 1: precautions there were none to take. The monotony of the
• 1:59:13
  Speaker 1: blind trail was increased by the fact that from the
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 1: moment he had started from the foot of the ladder,
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 1: he had counted his every step. He had promised to
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: return for antac if it proved humanly possible to do so,
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 1: and he knew that in the blackness of the tunnel
• 1:59:29
  Speaker 1: he could locate the foot of the ladder in no
• 1:59:32
  Speaker 1: other way. He had taken two hundred and sixty nine steps.
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 1: Afterward he knew that he should never forget that number.
• 1:59:40
  Speaker 1: When something bumped gently against him from behind. Instantly he
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 1: wheeled about, and, with knife ready to defend himself, stretched
• 1:59:49
  Speaker 1: forth his right hand to push away the object that
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 1: now had lodged against his body. His fingers, feeling through
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: the darkness, came in contact with something cold and clam
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: They passed to and fro over the thing, until Bradley
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 1: knew that it was the face of a dead man
• 2:00:06
  Speaker 1: floating upon the surface of the stream. With an oath,
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: he pushed his gruesome companion out into mid stream to
• 2:00:13
  Speaker 1: float on down toward the great pool and the awaiting
• 2:00:16
  Speaker 1: scavengers of the deep. At his four hundred and thirteenth step,
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 1: another corpse bumped against him. How many had passed him
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 1: without touching, he could not guess, But suddenly he experienced
• 2:00:29
  Speaker 1: the sensation of being surrounded by dead faces floating along
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 1: with him, all set in hideous grimaces, their dead eyes
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 1: glaring at this profaning alien who dared intrude upon the
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 1: waters of this river of the Dead, a horrid escort,
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 1: pregnant with dire forebodings and with menace. Though he advanced
• 2:00:51
  Speaker 1: very slowly, he tried always to take steps of about
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: the same length, so that he knew that though considerable
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 1: time had elapsed, yet he had really advanced no more
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 1: than four hundred yards. When ahead he saw a lessening
• 2:01:05
  Speaker 1: of the pitch darkness, and at the next turn of
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: the stream his surroundings became vaguely discernible. Above him was
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 1: an arched roof, and on either hand walls pierced at
• 2:01:16
  Speaker 1: intervals by apertures covered with wooden doors. Just ahead of
• 2:01:20
  Speaker 1: him in the roof of the aqueduct was a round,
• 2:01:23
  Speaker 1: black hole about thirty inches in diameter. His eyes still
• 2:01:28
  Speaker 1: rested upon the opening when there shot downward from it
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: to the water below the naked body of a human being,
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 1: which almost immediately rose to the surface again and floated
• 2:01:38
  Speaker 1: off down the stream. In the dim light, Bradley saw
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: that it was a dead whirrou from which the wings
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 1: and the head had been removed. A moment later, another
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 1: headless body floated past. Recalling what Antac had told him
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: of the skull collecting customs of the Whiru, Bradley wondered
• 2:01:58
  Speaker 1: how it happened that the first corpse he had encountered
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 1: in the stream had not been similarly mutilated. The farther
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: he advanced now, the lighter it became, the number of
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 1: corpses was much smaller than he had imagined, only two
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 1: more passing him before. At six hundred steps, or about
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 1: five hundred yards from the point he had taken to
• 2:02:19
  Speaker 1: the stream, he came to the end of the tunnel
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 1: and looked out upon sunlit water running between grassy banks.
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 1: One of the last corpses to pass him was still
• 2:02:31
  Speaker 1: clothed in the white robe of a Whiru, blood stained
• 2:02:35
  Speaker 1: over the headless neck that it concealed. Drawing closer to
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 1: the opening leading into the bright daylight, Bradley surveyed what
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 1: lay beyond. A short distance before him, a large building
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 1: stood in the center of several acres of grass and
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 1: tree covered ground spanning the stream, which disappeared through an
• 2:02:54
  Speaker 1: opening in its foundation wall. From the large saucer shaped
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 1: roof and the vivid colorings of the various heterogeneous parts
• 2:03:03
  Speaker 1: of the structure. He recognized it as the temple, past
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 1: which he had been borne to, the Blue Place of
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 1: seven skulls to and fro flew weirus going to and
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: from the temple. Others passed on foot across the open grounds,
• 2:03:19
  Speaker 1: assisting themselves with their great wings so that they barely
• 2:03:23
  Speaker 1: skimmed the earth. To leave the mouth of the tunnel
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: would have been to court instant discovery and capture. But
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: by what other avenue he might escape, Bradley could not
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: guess unless he retraced his steps up the stream and
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 1: sought egress from the other end of the city. The
• 2:03:40
  Speaker 1: thought of traversing that dark and horror ridden tunnel for
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 1: perhaps miles, he could not entertain. There must be some
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 1: other way. Perhaps after dark he could steal through the
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 1: temple grounds and continue on down stream until he had
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 1: come beyond the city. And so he stood and waited
• 2:03:58
  Speaker 1: until his limbs became almost paralyzed with cold, and he
• 2:04:02
  Speaker 1: knew that he must find some other plan for escape.
• 2:04:05
  Speaker 1: A half formed decision to risk an attempt to swim
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: under water to the temple was crystallizing, in spite of
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 1: the fact that any chance whirroo flying above the stream
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 1: might easily see him, when again a floating object bumped
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: against him from behind and lodged across his back. Turning quickly,
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 1: he saw that the thing was what he had immediately
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: guessed it to be a headless and wingless weirroo corpse.
• 2:04:30
  Speaker 1: With a grunt of disgust, he was about to push
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: it from him, when the white garment enshrouding it suggested
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: a bold plan to his resourceful brain. Grasping the corpse
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: by an arm, he tore the garment from it, and
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 1: then let the body float downward toward the temple. With
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 1: great care, he draped the robe about him. The bloody
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 1: blots that had covered the severed neck he arranged about
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: his own head. His haversack he rolled as tightly as possible,
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 1: and stuffed beneath his coat over his breast. Then he
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 1: fell gently to the surface of the stream, and, lying
• 2:05:03
  Speaker 1: upon his back, floated downward with the current and out
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 1: into the open sunlight. Through the weave of the cloth,
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 1: he could distinguish large objects. He saw weiru flap dismally
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: above him. He saw the banks of the stream float
• 2:05:19
  Speaker 1: slowly past. He heard a sudden wail upon the right
• 2:05:22
  Speaker 1: hand shore, and his heart stood still lest his ruse
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 1: had been discovered. But never by a move of a
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 1: muscle did he betray that aught. But a cold lump
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 1: of clay floated there upon the bosom of the water,
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: and soon, though it seemed an eternity to him, the
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: direct sunlight was blotted out, and he knew that he
• 2:05:42
  Speaker 1: had entered beneath the temple. Quickly he felt for bottom
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: with his feet, and as quickly stood erect snatching the
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: bloody clammy cloth from his face. On both sides were
• 2:05:54
  Speaker 1: blank walls, and before him the river turned a sharp
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: corner and disappeared. Feeling his way cautiously forward, he approached
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 1: the turn and looked around the corner. To his left
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 1: was a low platform about a foot above the level
• 2:06:08
  Speaker 1: of the stream, and on to this he lost no
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 1: time in climbing, for he was soaked from head to foot, cold,
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 1: and almost exhausted. As he lay resting on the skull
• 2:06:19
  Speaker 1: paved shelf, he saw in the center of the vault
• 2:06:23
  Speaker 1: above the river another of those sinister round holes through
• 2:06:26
  Speaker 1: which he momentarily expected to see a headless corpse shoot
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 1: downward in its last plunge to a watery grave. A
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 1: few feet along the platform. A closed door broke the
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 1: blankness of the wall. As he lay looking at it
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: and wondering what lay behind, his mind filled with fragments
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 1: of many wild schemes of escape. It opened and a
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: white robed whiriru stepped out upon the platform. The creature
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 1: carried a large wooden basin filled with rubbish. Its eyes
• 2:06:57
  Speaker 1: were not upon Bradley, who drew himself to a squatting
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 1: position and crouched as far back in the corner of
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 1: the niche in which the platform was set as he
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 1: could force himself. The wearrou stepped to the edge of
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 1: the platform and dumped the rubbish into the stream. If
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 1: it turned away from him, as it started to retrace
• 2:07:16
  Speaker 1: its steps to the doorway, there was a small chance
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: that it might not see him, but if it turned
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 1: toward him, there was none at all. Bradley held his breath.
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 1: The Wearrou paused a moment, gazing down into the water.
• 2:07:32
  Speaker 1: Then it straightened up and turned toward the Englishman. Bradley
• 2:07:36
  Speaker 1: did not move. The Weirrou stopped and stared intently at him.
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 1: It approached him questioningly. Still, Bradley remained as though carved
• 2:07:46
  Speaker 1: a stone. The creature was directly in front of him.
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 1: It stopped. There was no chance on earth that it
• 2:07:53
  Speaker 1: would not discover what he was. With the quickness of
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: a cat, Bradley sprang to his feet, and, with all
• 2:07:59
  Speaker 1: his strength, back by his heavy weight, struck the Weirrou
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 1: upon the point of the chin. Without a sound, the
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 1: thing crumpled to the platform, while Bradley, acting almost instinctively
• 2:08:11
  Speaker 1: to the urge of the first love of nature, rolled
• 2:08:14
  Speaker 1: the inanimate body over the edge into the river. Then
• 2:08:18
  Speaker 1: he looked at the open doorway, crossed the platform and
• 2:08:22
  Speaker 1: peered within the apartment. Beyond what he saw was a
• 2:08:25
  Speaker 1: large room, dimly lighted, and about the side rows of
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 1: wooden vessels stacked one upon another. There was no Weirrou
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: in sight, so the Englishman entered. At the far end
• 2:08:37
  Speaker 1: of the room was another door, and as he crossed
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 1: toward it, he glanced into some of the vessels, which
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 1: he found were filled with dried fruits, vegetables, and fish.
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 1: Without more ado, he stuffed his pockets and his haversack full,
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 1: thinking of the poor creature awaiting his return in the
• 2:08:54
  Speaker 1: gloom of the Place of seven Skulls. When night came,
• 2:08:59
  Speaker 1: he would return and fetch an tac this far at least,
• 2:09:02
  Speaker 1: But in the meantime it was his intention to reconnoiter,
• 2:09:06
  Speaker 1: in the hope that he might discover some easier way
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: out of the city than that offered by the chill
• 2:09:11
  Speaker 1: black channel of the ghastly River of Corpses. Beyond the
• 2:09:16
  Speaker 1: farther door stretched a long passageway, from which closed doorways
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 1: led into other parts of the cellars of the temple.
• 2:09:24
  Speaker 1: A few yards from the storeroom, a ladder rose from
• 2:09:27
  Speaker 1: the corridor through an aperture in the ceiling. Bradley paused
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 1: at the foot of it, debating the wisdom of further
• 2:09:34
  Speaker 1: investigation against a return to the river. But strong within
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 1: him was the sphere of expiration that had scattered his
• 2:09:41
  Speaker 1: race to the four corners of the earth. What new
• 2:09:44
  Speaker 1: mysteries lay hidden in the chambers above? The urge to
• 2:09:48
  Speaker 1: know was strong upon him, though his better judgment warned
• 2:09:51
  Speaker 1: him that the safer course lay in retreat. For a
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 1: moment he stood thus, running his fingers through his hair.
• 2:09:58
  Speaker 1: Then he cast a sh discretion to the winds and
• 2:10:01
  Speaker 1: began the ascent in conformity with such weiru architecture as
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 1: he had already observed. The well through which the latter
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 1: rose continually canted at an angle from the perpendicular at
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 1: more or less regular stages. It was pierced by apertures
• 2:10:17
  Speaker 1: closed by doors, none of which he could open until
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 1: he had climbed fully fifty feet from the river level.
• 2:10:24
  Speaker 1: Here he discovered a door already ajar, opening into a
• 2:10:28
  Speaker 1: large circular chamber, the walls and floors of which were
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 1: covered with the skins of wild beasts and with rugs
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 1: of many colors. But what interested him most was the
• 2:10:39
  Speaker 1: occupants of the room, a Whiru and a girl of
• 2:10:43
  Speaker 1: human proportions. She was standing with her back against a
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 1: column which rose from the center of the apartment from
• 2:10:50
  Speaker 1: floor to ceiling, a hollow column about forty inches in diameter,
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 1: in which he could see an opening. Some thirty inches
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 1: across the girl's side was Lord Bradley, and her face averted,
• 2:11:02
  Speaker 1: for she was watching the Weiru, who was now advancing
• 2:11:05
  Speaker 1: slowly toward her. Talking as he came. Bradley could distinctly
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 1: hear the words of the creature, who was urging the
• 2:11:13
  Speaker 1: girl to accompany him to another Weiru city.
• 2:11:16
  Speaker 5: Come with me, he said, and you shall have your life.
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 5: Remain here, And he who speaks for Luata will claim
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 5: you for his own, and when he is done with you,
• 2:11:26
  Speaker 5: your skull will bleach at the top of a tall staff,
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 5: while your body feeds the reptiles at the mouth of
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 5: the river of death. Even though you bring into the
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 5: world a female Weiru, your fate will be the same
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 5: if you do not escape him. While with me you
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 5: shall have life and food, and none shall harm you.
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 5: He was quite close to the girl when she replied
• 2:11:49
  Speaker 5: by striking him in the face with all her strength
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 5: until I am slain. She cried, I shall fight against
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 5: you all from the throat of the Waru issue that
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 5: dismal wail that Bradley had heard so often in the past.
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 5: It was like a scream of pain smothered to a groan.
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 5: And then the thing leaped upon the girl, its face
• 2:12:11
  Speaker 5: working in hideous grimaces as it clawed and beat had
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 5: heard a force her to the floor. The Englishman was
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 5: upon the point of entering to defender when a door
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 5: at the opposite side of the chamber opened to admit
• 2:12:23
  Speaker 5: a huge Waru, clothed entirely in red. At sight of
• 2:12:28
  Speaker 5: the two struggling upon the floor, the newcomer raised his
• 2:12:31
  Speaker 5: voice in a shriek of rage. Instantly, the whiru who
• 2:12:35
  Speaker 5: was attacking the girl, leaped to his feet and faced
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 5: the other. I heard, screamed he who had just entered
• 2:12:42
  Speaker 5: the room.
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 3: I heard.
• 2:12:44
  Speaker 2: And when he who speaks for Luata shall have heard.
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: He paused and made a suggestive movement of a finger across.
• 2:12:51
  Speaker 3: His throat, he shall not hear.
• 2:12:54
  Speaker 1: Returned the first wearu as with a powerful motion of
• 2:12:57
  Speaker 1: his great wings, he launched himself upon the red robed figure.
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 1: The latter dodged the first charge, drew a wicked looking
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 1: curved blade from beneath its red robe, spread its wings,
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 1: and dived for its antagonist. Beating their wings, wailing and groaning,
• 2:13:14
  Speaker 1: the two hideous things sparred for position. The white robed one,
• 2:13:19
  Speaker 1: being unarmed, sought to grasp the other by the wrist
• 2:13:22
  Speaker 1: of its knife hand and by the throat, while the
• 2:13:25
  Speaker 1: latter hopped round on its dainty white feet, seeking and
• 2:13:29
  Speaker 1: opening for a mortal blow. Once it struck and missed,
• 2:13:33
  Speaker 1: and then the other rushed in and clinched at the
• 2:13:36
  Speaker 1: same time, securing both the holes it sought. Immediately, the
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 1: two commenced, beating at each other's heads with the joints
• 2:13:43
  Speaker 1: of their wings, kicking with her sock puny feet and
• 2:13:46
  Speaker 1: biting each at the other's face. In the meantime, the
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 1: girl moved about the room, keeping out of the way
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: of the duellis, and as she did so, Bradley caught
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 1: a glimpse of her full face and immediately recogni as
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 1: the girl of the place of the yellow door. He
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 1: did not dare intervene now until one of the weiru
• 2:14:06
  Speaker 1: had overcome the other, lest the two should turn upon
• 2:14:09
  Speaker 1: him at once, when the chances were fair that he
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 1: would be defeated in so unequal a battle as the
• 2:14:15
  Speaker 1: curb blade of the red Wiru would render it. And
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 1: so he waited, watching the white robe figure slowly choking
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: the life from him. Of the red robe, the protruding
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 1: tongue and the popping eyes proclaimed that the end was near,
• 2:14:31
  Speaker 1: and a moment later, the red robe sank to the
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: floor of the room, the curved blade slipping from the
• 2:14:37
  Speaker 1: nerveless fingers. For an instant longer, the victor clung to
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 1: the throat of his defeated antagonist, and then he rose,
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 1: dragging the body after him, and approached the central column.
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 1: Here he raised the body and thrust it into the
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 1: aperture where Bradley saw it drop suddenly from sight. Instantly
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 1: there flashed into his memory the circular openings in the
• 2:15:01
  Speaker 1: roof of the river Bault and the corpses he had
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 1: seen drop from them to the water beneath. As the
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 1: body disappeared, the Weirroo turned and cast about the room
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 1: for the girl. For a moment he stood eyeing her.
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 5: You saw, he muttered, And if you tell them, he
• 2:15:17
  Speaker 5: who speaks for Luata, will have my wings severed, while
• 2:15:21
  Speaker 5: still I live, and my head will be severed, and
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 5: I shall be cast into the river of death. For
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 5: thus it happens, even to the highest, to slay one
• 2:15:29
  Speaker 5: of the red row. You saw, and you must die.
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 1: He ended with a scream. As he rushed upon the girl.
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 1: Bradley waited no longer. Leaping into the room, he ran
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 1: for the Weiru, who had already seized the girl. And
• 2:15:43
  Speaker 1: as he ran, he stooped and picked up the curved blade.
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 1: The creature's back was toward him, as with his left
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 1: hand he seized it by the neck. Like a flash.
• 2:15:53
  Speaker 1: The great wings beat backward as the creature turned, and
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: Bradley was swept from his feet, though he still retained
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: his hold upon the blade. Instantly the Whiroo was upon him.
• 2:16:04
  Speaker 1: Bradley lay slightly raised upon his left elbow, his right
• 2:16:08
  Speaker 1: arm free, and as the thing came close, he cut
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 1: at the hideous face with all the strength that lay
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 1: within him. The blade struck at the junction of the
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 1: neck and torsol, and with such force as to completely
• 2:16:20
  Speaker 1: decapitate the whiru, the hideous head dropping to the floor,
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 1: and the body falling forward upon the Englishman. Pushing it
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: from him. He rose to his feet and faced the
• 2:16:31
  Speaker 1: wide eyed girl. Luata. She exclaimed, how came you here?
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: Bradley shrugged. Here I am, he said, But the thing
• 2:16:40
  Speaker 1: now is to get out of here, both of us.
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 1: The girl shook her head. It cannot be she stated, sadly.
• 2:16:47
  Speaker 1: That is what I thought when they dropped me into
• 2:16:49
  Speaker 1: the blue Place of seven skulls. Replied Bradley, can't be done.
• 2:16:54
  Speaker 1: I did it here. You're mussing up the floor. Something
• 2:16:57
  Speaker 1: awful you this last to the day wiru as he
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: stooped and dragged the corpse to the central shaft, where
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: he raised it to the aperture and let it slip
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: into the tube. Then he picked up the head and
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 1: tossed it after the body. Don't be so glum, he
• 2:17:12
  Speaker 1: admonished the former as he carried it toward the well.
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 1: Smile but how can he smile? Questioned the girl, a
• 2:17:19
  Speaker 1: half puzzled, half frightened look upon her face. He is dead,
• 2:17:23
  Speaker 1: that's so, admitted Bradley. And I suppose he does feel
• 2:17:27
  Speaker 1: a bit cut up about it. The girl shook her
• 2:17:30
  Speaker 1: head and edged away from the man toward the door. Come,
• 2:17:34
  Speaker 1: said the Englishman. We've got to get out of here.
• 2:17:37
  Speaker 1: If you don't know a better way than the river,
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 1: it's the river. Then the girl still eyed him, askance,
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 1: but how could he smile when he was dead? Bradley
• 2:17:47
  Speaker 1: laughed aloud. I thought we English were supposed to have
• 2:17:50
  Speaker 1: the least sense of humor of any people in the world,
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: he cried. But now I've found one human being who
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 1: hasn't any of course, you don't know half I'm saying.
• 2:18:00
  Speaker 1: But don't worry, little girl. I'm not going to hurt you,
• 2:18:03
  Speaker 1: and if I can get you out of here, I'll
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 1: do it. Even if she did not understand all he said,
• 2:18:09
  Speaker 1: she at least read something in his smiling countenance, something
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 1: which reassured her. I do not fear you, she said,
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 1: though I do not understand all that you say, even
• 2:18:20
  Speaker 1: though you speak my own tongue and use words that
• 2:18:23
  Speaker 1: I know. But as for escaping, she sighed, alas, how
• 2:18:28
  Speaker 1: can it be done? I escape from the blue place
• 2:18:32
  Speaker 1: of seven skulls. Bradley reminded her. Come, and he turned
• 2:18:36
  Speaker 1: toward the shaft and the ladder that he had ascended
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 1: from the river. We cannot waste time here. The girl
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 1: followed him, but at the doorway both drew back, for
• 2:18:46
  Speaker 1: from below came the sound of some one ascending. Bradley
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 1: tiptoed to the door and peered cautiously into the well.
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 1: Then he stepped back beside the girl. There are half
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: a dozen of them coming up, But possibly they will
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 1: pass this room. No, she said, they will pass directly
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: through this room. They are on their way to him
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 1: who speaks for Luata. We may be able to hide
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 1: in the next room. There are skins there beneath which
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 1: we may crawl. They will not stop in that room,
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 1: but they may stop in this one for a short time.
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 1: The other room is blue. What's that got to do
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 1: with it? Demanded the Englishman. They fear blue, she replied,
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 1: In every room where murder has been done, you will
• 2:19:29
  Speaker 1: find blue, a certain amount for each murder. When the
• 2:19:32
  Speaker 1: room is all blue, they shun it. This room has
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 1: much blue, but evidently they kill mostly in the next room,
• 2:19:40
  Speaker 1: which is now all blue. But there is blue on
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 1: the outside of every house I've seen, said Bradley. Yes,
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: assented the girl. And there are blue rooms in each
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 1: of those houses. When all the rooms are blue, then
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 1: the whole outside of the house will be blue, as
• 2:19:56
  Speaker 1: is the blue place of seven skulls. There are many
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 1: any such here, and the skulls with blue upon them,
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 1: inquired Bradley, did they belong to murderers? They were murdered,
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 1: some of them. Those with only a small amount of
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 1: blue were murderers, known murderers. All wierus are murderers. When
• 2:20:16
  Speaker 1: they have committed a certain number of murders without being
• 2:20:19
  Speaker 1: caught at it, they confess to him whose speaks for
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 1: Luata and are advanced, after which they wear robes with
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 1: a slash of some color. I think yellow comes first.
• 2:20:30
  Speaker 1: When they reach a point where the entire robe is
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 1: of yellow, they discard it for a white robe with
• 2:20:35
  Speaker 1: a red slash. And when one wins a complete red robe,
• 2:20:39
  Speaker 1: he carries such a long curved knife as you have
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: in your hand. After that comes the blue slash on
• 2:20:46
  Speaker 1: a white robe. And then I suppose an all blue robe.
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 1: I have never seen such an one. As they talked
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 1: in low tones, they had moved from the room of
• 2:20:56
  Speaker 1: the death shaft into an all blue room adjoining, where
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: they sat down together in a corner with their backs
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 1: against the wall, and drew a pile of hides over themselves.
• 2:21:07
  Speaker 1: A moment later, they heard a number of weirus enter
• 2:21:09
  Speaker 1: the chamber. They were talking together as they crossed the floor,
• 2:21:13
  Speaker 1: or the two could not have heard them. Half way
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 1: across the chamber, they halted as the door toward which
• 2:21:19
  Speaker 1: they were advancing opened and a dozen others of their
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 1: kind entered the apartment. Bradley could guess all this by
• 2:21:26
  Speaker 1: the increased volume of sound and the dismal greetings, But
• 2:21:30
  Speaker 1: the sudden silence that almost immediately ensued he could not fathom,
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 1: for he could not know that from beneath one of
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 1: the hides that covered him protruded one of his heavy
• 2:21:40
  Speaker 1: army shoes, or that some eighteen large whirrous with robes
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: either solid red or slashed with red or blue, were
• 2:21:48
  Speaker 1: standing gazing at it, nor could he hear their stealthy approach.
• 2:21:53
  Speaker 1: The first intimation he had that he had been discovered
• 2:21:57
  Speaker 1: was when his foot was suddenly seized and he was
• 2:22:00
  Speaker 1: thanked violently from beneath the hides to find himself surrounded
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 1: by menacing blades. They would have slain him on the
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: spot had not one clothed. All in Red held them back,
• 2:22:10
  Speaker 1: saying that he who speaks for Luata desired to see
• 2:22:14
  Speaker 1: this strange creature. As they led Bradley away, he caught
• 2:22:18
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to glance back toward the hides to see
• 2:22:21
  Speaker 1: what had become of the girl, and to his gratification,
• 2:22:25
  Speaker 1: he discovered that she still lay concealed beneath the hides.
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 1: He wondered if she would have the nerve to attempt
• 2:22:31
  Speaker 1: the river trip alone, and regretted that now he could
• 2:22:34
  Speaker 1: not accompany her. He felt rather all in himself, more
• 2:22:39
  Speaker 1: so than he had at any time since he had
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 1: been captured by the Whiru, for there appeared not the
• 2:22:44
  Speaker 1: slightest cause for hope in his present predicament. He had
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 1: dropped the curved blade beneath the hides when he had
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: been jerked so violently from their fancied security. It was
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 1: almost in a spirit of resigned hopelessness that he quietly
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 1: accompanied his captors through various chambers and corridors towards the
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 1: heart of the temple end of Chapter three, Chapter four.
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 1: The farther the group progressed, the more barbaric and the
• 2:23:13
  Speaker 1: more sumptuous became the decorations. Hides of leopard and tiger predominated,
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 1: apparently because of their more beautiful markings, and decorative skulls
• 2:23:24
  Speaker 1: became more and more numerous. Many of the latter were
• 2:23:27
  Speaker 1: mounted in precious metals and set with colored stones and
• 2:23:31
  Speaker 1: priceless gems, while thick upon the hides that covered the
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 1: walls were golden ornaments, similar to those worn by the
• 2:23:38
  Speaker 1: girl and those which had filled the chests he had
• 2:23:41
  Speaker 1: examined in the store room of foche Balsage, leading the
• 2:23:45
  Speaker 1: Englishmen to the conviction that all such were spoils of
• 2:23:48
  Speaker 1: war or theft, since each peace seemed made for personal adornment,
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 1: while in so far as he had seen, no weiru
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 1: wore ornaments of any sort. And also as they advance,
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: the more numerous became the weirrous. Moving hither and thither
• 2:24:03
  Speaker 1: within the temple, many now were the solid red robes
• 2:24:07
  Speaker 1: and those that were slashed with blue, a veritable hive
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 1: of murderers. At last, the party halted in a room
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 1: in which were many Weirus who gathered about Bradley, questioning
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 1: his captors and examining him and his apparel. One of
• 2:24:22
  Speaker 1: the party accompanying the Englishmen spoke to a Weiru that
• 2:24:26
  Speaker 1: stood beside a door leading from the room.
• 2:24:29
  Speaker 2: Tell him who speaks for Luata. He said that foche
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 2: Balsage we could not find, but in returning we found
• 2:24:36
  Speaker 2: this creature within the temple hiding. It must be the
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 2: same that Fosche Balsage captured in the Stolou country during
• 2:24:43
  Speaker 2: the last darkness. Doubtless he who speaks for Luata would
• 2:24:47
  Speaker 2: wish to see and question this strange thing.
• 2:24:50
  Speaker 1: The creature addressed turned and slipped through the doorway, closing
• 2:24:54
  Speaker 1: the door after it, but first depositing its curved blade
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 1: upon the floor without its post. Was immediately taken by another,
• 2:25:03
  Speaker 1: and Bradley now saw that at least twenty such guards
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: loitered in the immediate vicinity. The door keeper was gone
• 2:25:10
  Speaker 1: but for a moment, and when he returned, he signified
• 2:25:13
  Speaker 1: that Bradley's party was to enter the next chamber, but
• 2:25:16
  Speaker 1: first each of the Weirrous removed his curved weapon and
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 1: laid it upon the floor. The door was swung open,
• 2:25:22
  Speaker 1: and the party, now reduced to Bradley and five Weirus,
• 2:25:26
  Speaker 1: was ushered across the threshold into a large, irregularly shaped
• 2:25:30
  Speaker 1: room in which a single giant Whiru, whose robe was
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 1: solid blue, sat upon a raised dais. The creature's face
• 2:25:38
  Speaker 1: was white, with the whiteness of a corpse, its dead
• 2:25:41
  Speaker 1: eyes entirely expressionless, its cruel thin lips tight drawn against
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 1: yellow teeth in a perpetual grimace. Upon either side of
• 2:25:50
  Speaker 1: it lay an enormous curved sword, similar to those with
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 1: which some of the other Whirus had been armed, but
• 2:25:57
  Speaker 1: larger and heavier. Constantly its claw like fingers played with
• 2:26:01
  Speaker 1: one or the other of these weapons. The walls of
• 2:26:04
  Speaker 1: the chamber, as well as the floor, were entirely hidden
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: by skins and woven fabrics. Blue predominated in all the colorations.
• 2:26:13
  Speaker 1: Fastened against the hides were many pairs of Weiru wings,
• 2:26:17
  Speaker 1: mounted so that they resembled long black shields. Upon the
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 1: ceiling were painted in blue characters. A bewildering series of hieroglyphics,
• 2:26:26
  Speaker 1: and upon pedestals. Set against the walls or standing out
• 2:26:29
  Speaker 1: well within the room, were many human skulls. As the
• 2:26:34
  Speaker 1: Wiirus approached the figure upon the dais, they leaned far forward,
• 2:26:39
  Speaker 1: raising their wings above their heads and stretching their necks,
• 2:26:43
  Speaker 1: as though offering them to the sharp swords of the
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: grim and hideous creature.
• 2:26:48
  Speaker 2: All thou who speakest for.
• 2:26:50
  Speaker 1: The water, exclaimed one of the party.
• 2:26:52
  Speaker 2: We bring you the strange creature that Fouchepalsage captured and
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 2: brought thither at thy command. So this, then, was the
• 2:27:01
  Speaker 2: godlike figure that spoke for divinity. This arch murderer was
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 2: the Caspakian representative of God on earth. His blue robe
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 2: announced him the one, and the seeming humility of his
• 2:27:13
  Speaker 2: minions the other. For a long minute he glared at Bradley.
• 2:27:18
  Speaker 2: Then he began to question him. From whence he came
• 2:27:21
  Speaker 2: and howl, the name and description of his native country,
• 2:27:24
  Speaker 2: and a hundred other queries. Are you corsacklelo, the creature asked.
• 2:27:29
  Speaker 2: Bradley replied that he was, and that all his kind were,
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 2: as well as every living thing in his part of
• 2:27:35
  Speaker 2: the world. Can you tell me the secret?
• 2:27:39
  Speaker 1: Asked the creature. Bradley hesitated, and then, thinking to gain time,
• 2:27:44
  Speaker 1: replied in the affirmative, what is it? Demanded the weiru,
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 1: leaning far forward and exhibiting every evidence of excited interest.
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 1: Bradley leaned forward and whispered, it is for your ears alone.
• 2:27:58
  Speaker 1: I will not divulge it to others, and then only
• 2:28:01
  Speaker 1: on condition that you carry me and the girl I
• 2:28:04
  Speaker 1: saw in the place of the yellow door near to
• 2:28:07
  Speaker 1: that of fosse Balsage back to her own country. The
• 2:28:11
  Speaker 1: thing rose in wrath, holding one of its swords above
• 2:28:14
  Speaker 1: its head.
• 2:28:15
  Speaker 2: Who are you to make terms for him who speaks
• 2:28:18
  Speaker 2: for Latta, it shrilled, Tell me the secret, or die where.
• 2:28:22
  Speaker 1: You stand, And if I die now, the secret goes
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 1: with me. Bradley reminded him. Never again will you get
• 2:28:29
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to question another of my kind who knows
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 1: this secret. Anything to gain time to get the rest
• 2:28:35
  Speaker 1: of the wirus from the room, that he might plan
• 2:28:38
  Speaker 1: some scheme for escape and put it into effect. The
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 1: creature turned upon the leader of the party that had
• 2:28:45
  Speaker 1: brought Bradley.
• 2:28:47
  Speaker 2: Is the thing with weapons? It asked?
• 2:28:50
  Speaker 1: No was the response.
• 2:28:52
  Speaker 2: Then go, but tell the guard to remain close.
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 1: By, commanded the high one the wierus salaamed and withdrew close.
• 2:29:00
  Speaker 1: Seeing the door behind them. He who speak for Luotte,
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 1: grasped a sword nervously in his right hand. At his
• 2:29:06
  Speaker 1: left side lay the second weapon. It was evident that
• 2:29:10
  Speaker 1: he lived in constant dread of being assassinated. The fact
• 2:29:14
  Speaker 1: that he permitted none with weapons within his presence, and
• 2:29:17
  Speaker 1: that he always kept two swords at his side pointed
• 2:29:20
  Speaker 1: to this. Bradley was racking his brain to find some
• 2:29:24
  Speaker 1: suggestion of a plan whereby he might turn the situation
• 2:29:27
  Speaker 1: to his own account. His eyes wandered past the weird
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 1: figure before him. They played about the walls of the apartment,
• 2:29:34
  Speaker 1: as though hoping to draw inspiration from the dead skulls
• 2:29:38
  Speaker 1: and the hides and the wings. And then they came
• 2:29:41
  Speaker 1: back to the face of the Weiroo god, now working
• 2:29:44
  Speaker 1: in anger, quick screamed the thing the secret? Will you
• 2:29:50
  Speaker 1: give me and the girl our freedom? Insisted Bradley. For
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 1: an instant the thing hesitated, and then it grumbled yes.
• 2:29:58
  Speaker 1: At the same instant Bradley's saw two hides upon the
• 2:30:01
  Speaker 1: wall to directly back of the dais separate, and a
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 1: face appear in the opening. No change of expression upon
• 2:30:08
  Speaker 1: the Englishman's countenance, betrayed that he had seen aught to
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 1: surprise him. Though surprised he was, for the face in
• 2:30:15
  Speaker 1: the aperture was that of the girl he had but
• 2:30:17
  Speaker 1: just left hidden beneath the hides in another chamber. A
• 2:30:21
  Speaker 1: white and shapely arm now pushed past the face into
• 2:30:24
  Speaker 1: the room, and in the hand, tightly clutched, was the
• 2:30:27
  Speaker 1: curved blade, smeared with blood, that Bradley had dropped beneath
• 2:30:31
  Speaker 1: the hides at the moment he had been discovered and
• 2:30:34
  Speaker 1: drawn from his concealment. Listen, then, said Bradley, in a
• 2:30:38
  Speaker 1: low voice to the weareru. You shall know the secret
• 2:30:41
  Speaker 1: of Cossattledoo as well as do I, but none other
• 2:30:45
  Speaker 1: may hear it? Lean close, I will whisper it into
• 2:30:49
  Speaker 1: your ear. He moved forward and stepped upon the dais.
• 2:30:53
  Speaker 1: The creature raised its sword, ready to strike at the
• 2:30:56
  Speaker 1: first indication of treachery, and Bradley stooped beneath them the
• 2:31:00
  Speaker 1: blade and put his ear close to the gruesome face.
• 2:31:03
  Speaker 1: As he did so, he rested his weight upon his hands,
• 2:31:06
  Speaker 1: one upon either side of the weiru's body, his right
• 2:31:10
  Speaker 1: hand upon the hilt of the spare sword lying at
• 2:31:12
  Speaker 1: the left of him who speaks for Luata. This, then,
• 2:31:17
  Speaker 1: t is the secret of both life and death, he whispered,
• 2:31:20
  Speaker 1: And at the same instant he grasped the whiru by
• 2:31:23
  Speaker 1: the right wrist, and with his own right hand, swung
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 1: the extra blade in a sudden, vicious blow against the
• 2:31:29
  Speaker 1: creature's neck, before the thing could give even a single
• 2:31:32
  Speaker 1: cry of alarm. Then, without waiting an instant, Bradley leaped
• 2:31:36
  Speaker 1: past the dead god and vanished behind the hides that
• 2:31:40
  Speaker 1: had hidden the girl. Wide eyed and panting, the girl
• 2:31:44
  Speaker 1: seized his arm. Oh what have you done, she cried?
• 2:31:47
  Speaker 1: He who speaks for Luata will be avenged by Luata. Now, indeed,
• 2:31:51
  Speaker 1: must you die? There is no escape, for even though
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 1: we reached my own country, Luata can find you out, bah,
• 2:32:00
  Speaker 1: claim Bradley. And then, but you were going to knife
• 2:32:02
  Speaker 1: him yourself, then I alone should have died, she replied.
• 2:32:07
  Speaker 1: Bradley scratched his head. Neither of us is going to die,
• 2:32:11
  Speaker 1: he said, at least not at the hands of any god.
• 2:32:14
  Speaker 1: If we don't get out of here, though, we'll die
• 2:32:16
  Speaker 1: right enough. Can you find your way back to the
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 1: room where I first came upon you in the temple
• 2:32:22
  Speaker 1: I know the way, replied the girl, but I doubt
• 2:32:25
  Speaker 1: if we can go back without being seen. I came
• 2:32:28
  Speaker 1: hither because I only met Gerus, who knew that I
• 2:32:31
  Speaker 1: am supposed now to be in the temple. But you
• 2:32:34
  Speaker 1: could go elsewhere without being discovered. Bradley's ingenuity had come
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 1: up against a stone wall. There seemed no possibility of escape.
• 2:32:43
  Speaker 1: He looked about him. They were in a small room
• 2:32:46
  Speaker 1: where lay a litter of rubbish, torn bits of cloth,
• 2:32:49
  Speaker 1: old hives, pieces of fiber rope. In the center of
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 1: the room was a cylindrical shaft with an opening in
• 2:32:56
  Speaker 1: its face. Bradley knew it for what it was. Here
• 2:33:00
  Speaker 1: the arch fiend dragged his victims and cast their bodies
• 2:33:03
  Speaker 1: into the river of death far below. The floor about
• 2:33:06
  Speaker 1: the opening in the shaft and the sides of the
• 2:33:08
  Speaker 1: shaft were clotted thick with a dried, dark brown substance
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 1: that the Englishman knew had once been blood. The place
• 2:33:16
  Speaker 1: had the appearance of having been a veritable shambles. An
• 2:33:20
  Speaker 1: odor of decaying flesh permeated the air. The Englishman crossed
• 2:33:25
  Speaker 1: to the shaft and peered into the opening. All below
• 2:33:28
  Speaker 1: was dark as pitch, but at the bottom he knew
• 2:33:31
  Speaker 1: was the river. Suddenly, an inspiration and a bold scheme
• 2:33:35
  Speaker 1: leaped to his mind. Turning quickly, he hunted about the
• 2:33:39
  Speaker 1: room until he found what he sought, a quantity of
• 2:33:41
  Speaker 1: the rope that lay strewn here and there. With rapid fingers,
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 1: he unsnarled the different lengths, the girl helping him, and
• 2:33:49
  Speaker 1: then he tied the ends together until he had three
• 2:33:52
  Speaker 1: ropes about seventy five feet in length. He fastened these
• 2:33:56
  Speaker 1: together at each end, and without a word, secured one
• 2:33:59
  Speaker 1: of the ends about the girl's body beneath her arms.
• 2:34:03
  Speaker 1: Don't be frightened, he said at length, as he led
• 2:34:06
  Speaker 1: her toward the opening in the shaft. I am going
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 1: to lower you to the river, and then I'm coming
• 2:34:10
  Speaker 1: down after you. When you are safe below. Give two
• 2:34:13
  Speaker 1: quick jerks upon the rope. If there is danger there
• 2:34:17
  Speaker 1: and you want me to draw you up into the shaft,
• 2:34:19
  Speaker 1: jerk once. Don't be afraid. It is the only way.
• 2:34:23
  Speaker 1: I am not afraid, replied the girl, rather haughtily Bradly thought,
• 2:34:28
  Speaker 1: and herself climbed through the aperture and hung by her hands,
• 2:34:31
  Speaker 1: waiting for Bradley to lower her as rapidly as was
• 2:34:35
  Speaker 1: consistent with safety. The man paid out the rope. When
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 1: it was about half out, he heard loud cries and
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 1: wails suddenly arise within the room they had just quitted.
• 2:34:45
  Speaker 1: The slaying of their god had been discovered by the weirus.
• 2:34:48
  Speaker 1: A search for the slayer would begin at once lord
• 2:34:52
  Speaker 1: would the girl never reach the river? At last, just
• 2:34:55
  Speaker 1: as he was positive that searchers were already entering the
• 2:34:58
  Speaker 1: room behind him, there came two quick tugs.
• 2:35:01
  Speaker 2: At the rope.
• 2:35:02
  Speaker 1: Instantly, Bradley made the rest of the strands fast about
• 2:35:05
  Speaker 1: the shaft, slipped into the black tube, and began a
• 2:35:08
  Speaker 1: hurried descent toward the river. An instant later, he stood
• 2:35:12
  Speaker 1: waist deep in water beside the girl. Impulsively, she reached
• 2:35:16
  Speaker 1: toward him and grasped his arm. A strange thrill ran
• 2:35:20
  Speaker 1: through him at the contact, but he only cut the
• 2:35:23
  Speaker 1: rope from about her body and lifted her to the
• 2:35:25
  Speaker 1: little shelf at the river's side. How can we leave here,
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 1: she asked? By the river, he replied, But first I
• 2:35:32
  Speaker 1: must go back to the blue Place of seven Skulls
• 2:35:35
  Speaker 1: and get the poor devil I left there. I'll have
• 2:35:38
  Speaker 1: to wait until after dark, though, as I cannot pass
• 2:35:41
  Speaker 1: through the open stretch of river in the temple gardens
• 2:35:44
  Speaker 1: by day. There is another way, said the girl. I
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 1: have never seen it, but often I have heard them
• 2:35:50
  Speaker 1: speak of it. A corridor that runs beside the river
• 2:35:54
  Speaker 1: from one end of the city to the other, through
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 1: the gardens. It is below ground. If we could find
• 2:35:59
  Speaker 1: an entrance to it, we could leave here at once.
• 2:36:02
  Speaker 1: It is not safe here, for they will search every
• 2:36:05
  Speaker 1: inch of the temple and the grounds. Come, said Bradley.
• 2:36:09
  Speaker 1: We'll have a look for it anyway, And so saying,
• 2:36:12
  Speaker 1: he approached one of the doors that opened onto the
• 2:36:14
  Speaker 1: skull paved shelf. They found the corridor easily, for it
• 2:36:18
  Speaker 1: paralleled the river, separated from it only by a single wall.
• 2:36:23
  Speaker 1: It took them beneath the gardens and the city, always
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 1: through inky darkness. After they had reached the other side
• 2:36:29
  Speaker 1: of the gardens, Bradley counted his steps until he had
• 2:36:32
  Speaker 1: retraced as many as he had taken coming down the stream.
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 1: But though they had to grope their way along, it
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 1: was a much more rapid trip than the former. When
• 2:36:42
  Speaker 1: he thought he was about opposite the point at which
• 2:36:44
  Speaker 1: he had descended from the Blue Place of seven Skulls,
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 1: he sought and found a doorway leading out on to
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 1: the river, and then, still in the blackest darkness, he
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 1: lured himself into the stream and fell up and down
• 2:36:58
  Speaker 1: upon the opposite side for the little shelf and the ladder,
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 1: ten yards from where he had emerged. He found them,
• 2:37:04
  Speaker 1: while the girl waited upon the opposite side to ascend.
• 2:37:09
  Speaker 1: The secret panel was the work of but a minute.
• 2:37:12
  Speaker 1: Here he paused and listened lest the weirrou might be
• 2:37:15
  Speaker 1: visiting the prison in search of him or the other inmate.
• 2:37:19
  Speaker 1: But no sound came from the gloomy interior. Bradley could
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 1: not but muse upon the joy of the man on
• 2:37:25
  Speaker 1: the opposite side, when he should drop down to him
• 2:37:28
  Speaker 1: with food and a new hope for escape. Then he
• 2:37:31
  Speaker 1: opened the panel and looked into the room. The faint
• 2:37:35
  Speaker 1: light from the grating above revealed the pile of rags
• 2:37:38
  Speaker 1: in one corner, but the man lay beneath them. He
• 2:37:41
  Speaker 1: made no response to Bradley's low greeting. The Englishman lured
• 2:37:46
  Speaker 1: himself to the floor of the room and approached the rags. Stooping,
• 2:37:50
  Speaker 1: he lifted a corner of them. Yes, there was the
• 2:37:52
  Speaker 1: man asleep. Bradley shook him. There was no response. He
• 2:37:57
  Speaker 1: stooped lore, and in the dim light, examined that tack.
• 2:38:01
  Speaker 1: Then he stood up with a sigh. A rat leaped
• 2:38:04
  Speaker 1: from beneath the coverings and scurried away. Poor devil, muttered Bradley.
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 1: He crossed the room to swing himself to the perch,
• 2:38:12
  Speaker 1: preparatory to quitting the blue place of seven skulls forever
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 1: Beneath the perch, he paused, I'll not give them the satisfaction,
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 1: he growled, Let them believe that he escaped. Returning to
• 2:38:24
  Speaker 1: the pile of rags, he gathered the man into his arms.
• 2:38:28
  Speaker 1: It was difficult work raising him to the high perch
• 2:38:31
  Speaker 1: and dragging him through the small opening and thus down
• 2:38:34
  Speaker 1: the ladder, but presently it was done, and Bradley had
• 2:38:38
  Speaker 1: lured the body into the river and cast it off.
• 2:38:41
  Speaker 1: Good Bye, old top, he whispered. A moment later he
• 2:38:45
  Speaker 1: had rejoined the girl, and hand in hand, they were
• 2:38:48
  Speaker 1: following the dark corridor up stream toward the farther end
• 2:38:51
  Speaker 1: of the city. She told him that the Weirroo seldom
• 2:38:54
  Speaker 1: frequented these lower passages, as the air here was too
• 2:38:58
  Speaker 1: chill for them, But accasionally they came, and as they
• 2:39:02
  Speaker 1: could see quite as well by night as by day.
• 2:39:05
  Speaker 1: They would be sure to discover Bradley and the girl
• 2:39:08
  Speaker 1: if they come close enough. She said, we can see
• 2:39:11
  Speaker 1: their eyes shining in the dark. They resemble dull splotches
• 2:39:15
  Speaker 1: of light. They glow, but do not blaze, like the
• 2:39:18
  Speaker 1: eyes of the tiger or the lion. The man could
• 2:39:21
  Speaker 1: not but note the very evident horror with which she
• 2:39:25
  Speaker 1: mentioned the creatures. To him, they were uncanny, but she
• 2:39:29
  Speaker 1: had been used to them for a year almost and
• 2:39:31
  Speaker 1: probably all her life. She had either seen or heard
• 2:39:34
  Speaker 1: of them constantly. Why do you fear them, so he asked,
• 2:39:38
  Speaker 1: It seems more than an ordinary fear of the harm
• 2:39:42
  Speaker 1: they can do you. She tried to explain, but the
• 2:39:45
  Speaker 1: nearest he could gather was that she looked upon the
• 2:39:47
  Speaker 1: weiru almost as supernatural beings. There is a legend current
• 2:39:52
  Speaker 1: among my people that once the Whiru were unlike us,
• 2:39:56
  Speaker 1: only in that they possessed rudimentary wings. They ebb in
• 2:40:00
  Speaker 1: villages in the Galu country, and while the two peoples
• 2:40:03
  Speaker 1: often warred, they held no hatred for one another. In
• 2:40:07
  Speaker 1: those days, each race came up from the beginning, and
• 2:40:10
  Speaker 1: there was great rivalry as to which was the higher
• 2:40:13
  Speaker 1: in the scale of evolution. The wiru developed the first cosatloo,
• 2:40:18
  Speaker 1: but they were always male, never could they reproduce women. Slowly,
• 2:40:22
  Speaker 1: they commenced to develop certain attributes of the mind, which
• 2:40:26
  Speaker 1: they considered placed them upon a still higher level, and
• 2:40:29
  Speaker 1: which gave them many advantages over us, seeing which they
• 2:40:33
  Speaker 1: thought only of mental development. Their minds became like stars
• 2:40:37
  Speaker 1: and the rivers, moving always in the same manner, never varying.
• 2:40:42
  Speaker 1: They called this tasad, which means doing everything the right way,
• 2:40:47
  Speaker 1: or in other words, the Weiru way. If foe or friend,
• 2:40:51
  Speaker 1: right or wrong, stood in the way of Tasad, then
• 2:40:54
  Speaker 1: it must be crushed. Soon the galous and the lesser
• 2:40:57
  Speaker 1: races of men came to hate and fear them. It
• 2:41:00
  Speaker 1: was them that the weirus decided to carry Tasad into
• 2:41:04
  Speaker 1: every part of the world. They were very warlike and
• 2:41:07
  Speaker 1: very numerous, although they had long since adopted the policy
• 2:41:11
  Speaker 1: of slaying all those among them whose wings did not
• 2:41:14
  Speaker 1: show advanced development. It took ages for all this to happen.
• 2:41:19
  Speaker 1: Very slowly came the different changes, But at last the
• 2:41:22
  Speaker 1: weirus had wings they could use. But by reason of
• 2:41:26
  Speaker 1: always making war upon their neighbors, they were hated by
• 2:41:29
  Speaker 1: every creature of cashpack, for no one wanted their tasad,
• 2:41:33
  Speaker 1: and so they used their wings to fly to this
• 2:41:35
  Speaker 1: island when the other races turned against them and threatened
• 2:41:39
  Speaker 1: to kill them all. So cruel had they become, and
• 2:41:42
  Speaker 1: so bloodthirsty that they no longer had hearts that beat
• 2:41:45
  Speaker 1: with love or sympathy. But their very cruelty and wickedness
• 2:41:49
  Speaker 1: kept them from conquering the other races, since they were
• 2:41:52
  Speaker 1: all so cruel and wicked to one another, so that
• 2:41:55
  Speaker 1: no weiru trusted another. Always were they slaying those above them,
• 2:42:00
  Speaker 1: that they might rise in power and possessions, Until at
• 2:42:03
  Speaker 1: last came the more powerful than the others, with a
• 2:42:06
  Speaker 1: tacit all his own. He gathered about him a few
• 2:42:10
  Speaker 1: of the most terrible rearus, and among them they made
• 2:42:13
  Speaker 1: laws which took from all but these few weeros every
• 2:42:16
  Speaker 1: weapon they possessed. Now their tacad has reached a high plain.
• 2:42:21
  Speaker 1: Among them they make many wonderful things that we cannot make.
• 2:42:25
  Speaker 1: They think great thoughts no doubt, and still dream of
• 2:42:28
  Speaker 1: greatness to come. But their thoughts and their acts are
• 2:42:31
  Speaker 1: regulated by ages of custom. They are all alike, and
• 2:42:35
  Speaker 1: they are most unhappy. As the girl talked, The two
• 2:42:40
  Speaker 1: moved steadily along the dark passageway beside the river. They
• 2:42:44
  Speaker 1: had advanced a considerable distance when there sounded, faintly from
• 2:42:47
  Speaker 1: far ahead, the muffled roar of falling water, which increased
• 2:42:51
  Speaker 1: in volume as they moved forward, until at last it
• 2:42:54
  Speaker 1: filled the corridor with a deafening sound. Then the corridor
• 2:42:59
  Speaker 1: ended in a blank wall, but in a niche. To
• 2:43:01
  Speaker 1: the right was a ladder leading aloft, and to the
• 2:43:04
  Speaker 1: left was a door opening on to the river. Bradley
• 2:43:08
  Speaker 1: tried the ladder first, and as he opened it felt
• 2:43:10
  Speaker 1: a heavy spray against his face. The little shelf outside
• 2:43:14
  Speaker 1: the doorway was wet and slippery, the roaring of the
• 2:43:17
  Speaker 1: water tremendous. There could be but one explanation. They had
• 2:43:21
  Speaker 1: reached the waterfall in the river, and if the corridor
• 2:43:24
  Speaker 1: actually terminated here, their escape was effectually cut off. Since
• 2:43:29
  Speaker 1: it was quite evidently impossible to follow the bed of
• 2:43:32
  Speaker 1: the river and ascend the falls, as the ladder was
• 2:43:36
  Speaker 1: the only alternative, the two turned toward it, and the
• 2:43:39
  Speaker 1: man first began the ascent, which was through a well
• 2:43:42
  Speaker 1: similar to that which had led him to the upper
• 2:43:44
  Speaker 1: floors of the temple. As he climbed Bradley felt for
• 2:43:48
  Speaker 1: openings in the side of the shaft, but he discovered
• 2:43:51
  Speaker 1: none below fifty feet. The first he came to was Ajar,
• 2:43:55
  Speaker 1: letting a faint light into the well. As he paused,
• 2:43:59
  Speaker 1: the girl climed to his side, and together they looked
• 2:44:02
  Speaker 1: through the crack into a low sealed chamber, in which
• 2:44:05
  Speaker 1: were several galoo women and an equal number of hideous
• 2:44:09
  Speaker 1: little replicas of the full grown weirus, with which Bradley
• 2:44:12
  Speaker 1: was not quite familiar. He could feel the body of
• 2:44:16
  Speaker 1: the girl pressed close to his tremble as her eyes
• 2:44:20
  Speaker 1: rested upon the inmates of the room, and involuntarily his
• 2:44:24
  Speaker 1: arm encircled her shoulders, as though to protect her from
• 2:44:27
  Speaker 1: some danger which he sensed without recognizing. Poor things, she whispered,
• 2:44:33
  Speaker 1: this is their horrible fate, to be imprisoned here beneath
• 2:44:37
  Speaker 1: the surface of the city, with their hideous offspring, whom
• 2:44:41
  Speaker 1: they hate as they hate their fathers. A weiru keeps
• 2:44:45
  Speaker 1: his children thus hidden until they are full grown, lest
• 2:44:48
  Speaker 1: they be murdered by their fellows. The lower rooms of
• 2:44:52
  Speaker 1: the city are filled with many such as these. Several
• 2:44:55
  Speaker 1: feet above was a second door, beyond which they found
• 2:44:58
  Speaker 1: a small room stillard with food in wooden vessels. A
• 2:45:03
  Speaker 1: grated window in one wall opened above an alley, and
• 2:45:06
  Speaker 1: through it they could see that they were just below
• 2:45:08
  Speaker 1: the roof of the building. Darkness was coming, and at
• 2:45:12
  Speaker 1: Bradley's suggestion, they decided to remain hidden here until after dark,
• 2:45:16
  Speaker 1: and then to ascend to the roof and reconnoiter. Shortly
• 2:45:21
  Speaker 1: after they had settled themselves, they heard something descending the
• 2:45:25
  Speaker 1: ladder from above. They hoped that it would continue on
• 2:45:28
  Speaker 1: down the well, and fairly held their breath as the
• 2:45:31
  Speaker 1: sound approached the door to the store room. Their hearts
• 2:45:34
  Speaker 1: sank as they heard the door open, and from between
• 2:45:37
  Speaker 1: cracks in the vessels behind which they hid, saw a
• 2:45:41
  Speaker 1: yellow slashed whiru enter the room. Each recognized him immediately,
• 2:45:46
  Speaker 1: the girl indicating the fact of her own recognition by
• 2:45:49
  Speaker 1: a sudden pressure of her fingers on Bradley's arm. It
• 2:45:53
  Speaker 1: was the Weiru of the yellow slashing, whose abode was
• 2:45:56
  Speaker 1: the place of the yellow door in which Bradley had
• 2:46:00
  Speaker 1: seen the girl. The creature carried a wooden bowl, which
• 2:46:03
  Speaker 1: it filled with dried food from several of the vessels.
• 2:46:07
  Speaker 1: Then it turned and quit the room. Bradley could see
• 2:46:10
  Speaker 1: through the partially opened doorway that it descended the latter.
• 2:46:14
  Speaker 1: The girl told him that it was taking the food
• 2:46:17
  Speaker 1: to the women and the young below, and that while
• 2:46:19
  Speaker 1: it might return immediately, the chances were that it would
• 2:46:23
  Speaker 1: remain for some time. We are just below the place
• 2:46:26
  Speaker 1: of the yellow door, she said. It is far from
• 2:46:29
  Speaker 1: the edge of the city, so far that we may
• 2:46:32
  Speaker 1: not hope to escape if we ascend to the roofs here.
• 2:46:36
  Speaker 1: I think, replied the man, that of all the places
• 2:46:39
  Speaker 1: in u Oh, this will be the easiest to escape from. Anyway.
• 2:46:44
  Speaker 1: I want to return to the place of the yellow
• 2:46:46
  Speaker 1: door and get my pistol if it is there. It
• 2:46:49
  Speaker 1: is still there, replied the girl. I saw it placed
• 2:46:53
  Speaker 1: in a chest where he keeps the things he takes
• 2:46:55
  Speaker 1: from his prisoners and victims. Good, explained Bradley. I'll come quickly,
• 2:47:01
  Speaker 1: and the two crossed the room to the well and
• 2:47:03
  Speaker 1: ascended the ladder a short distance to its top, where
• 2:47:07
  Speaker 1: they found another door that opened into a vacant room,
• 2:47:11
  Speaker 1: the same in which Bradley had first met the girl.
• 2:47:14
  Speaker 1: To find the pistol was a matter of but a
• 2:47:16
  Speaker 1: moment's search on the part of Bradley's companion, and then
• 2:47:19
  Speaker 1: at the englishman's signal, she followed him to the yellow door.
• 2:47:24
  Speaker 1: It was quite dark without as the two entered the
• 2:47:26
  Speaker 1: narrow passage between two buildings. A few steps brought them
• 2:47:30
  Speaker 1: undiscovered to the doorway of the store room, where lay
• 2:47:34
  Speaker 1: the body of foche Balsage. In the distance towards the temple,
• 2:47:38
  Speaker 1: they could hear sounds as of a great gathering of wearerws,
• 2:47:42
  Speaker 1: the peculiar, uncanny wailing rising above the dismal flapping of
• 2:47:47
  Speaker 1: countless wings. They have heard of the killing of him
• 2:47:51
  Speaker 1: who speaks for Luata, whispered the girl. Soon they will
• 2:47:54
  Speaker 1: spread in all directions searching for us. And will they
• 2:47:59
  Speaker 1: find us as surely as Lua gives light by day,
• 2:48:02
  Speaker 1: she replied. And when they find us, they will tear
• 2:48:05
  Speaker 1: us to pieces. For only the weirus may murder. Only
• 2:48:09
  Speaker 1: they may practice tasad. But they will not kill you,
• 2:48:13
  Speaker 1: said Bradley. You did not slay him. It will make
• 2:48:16
  Speaker 1: no difference, she insisted. If they find us together, they
• 2:48:20
  Speaker 1: will slay us both. Then they won't find us together,
• 2:48:24
  Speaker 1: announced Bradley decisively. You stay right here. You won't be
• 2:48:28
  Speaker 1: any worse off than before I came. And I'll get
• 2:48:31
  Speaker 1: as far as I can and account for as many
• 2:48:33
  Speaker 1: of the beggars as possible before they get me. Good Bye.
• 2:48:37
  Speaker 1: You're a mighty decent little girl. I wish that I
• 2:48:40
  Speaker 1: might have helped you. No, she cried, do not leave me.
• 2:48:45
  Speaker 1: I would rather die. I had hoped and hoped to
• 2:48:48
  Speaker 1: find some way to return to my own country. I
• 2:48:51
  Speaker 1: wanted to go back to Antack, who must be very
• 2:48:54
  Speaker 1: lonely without me. But I know that it never can be.
• 2:48:58
  Speaker 1: It is difficult to kill hope, though mine is nearly dead.
• 2:49:03
  Speaker 1: Do not leave me, Antac. Bradley repeated, you loved a
• 2:49:07
  Speaker 1: man called Antac, Yes, replied the girl. Antac was away
• 2:49:12
  Speaker 1: hunting when the Whiru caught me. How he must have
• 2:49:15
  Speaker 1: grieved for me. He also was Cossataloup, twelve moons older
• 2:49:20
  Speaker 1: than I, and all our lives we have been together.
• 2:49:24
  Speaker 1: Bradley remained silent. So she loved Antac. He hadn't the
• 2:49:28
  Speaker 1: heart to tell her that an Tak had died or how.
• 2:49:33
  Speaker 1: At the door of foshe Balsage's store room, they halted
• 2:49:36
  Speaker 1: to listen. No sound came from within, and gently Bradley
• 2:49:40
  Speaker 1: pushed open the door. All was inky darkness as they entered,
• 2:49:45
  Speaker 1: but Presently their eyes became accustomed to the gloom that
• 2:49:48
  Speaker 1: was partially relieved by the soft starlight. Without the Englishman
• 2:49:53
  Speaker 1: searched and found those things for which he had come,
• 2:49:56
  Speaker 1: two robes, two pairs of dead wings, and several lengths
• 2:50:00
  Speaker 1: of fiber rope. One pair of the wings he adjusted
• 2:50:03
  Speaker 1: to the girl's shoulders by means of the rope. Then
• 2:50:07
  Speaker 1: he draped the robe about her, carrying the cowl over
• 2:50:10
  Speaker 1: her head. He heard her gasp of astonishment when she
• 2:50:13
  Speaker 1: realized the ingenuity and boldness of his plan. Then he
• 2:50:17
  Speaker 1: directed her to adjust the other pair of wings and
• 2:50:20
  Speaker 1: the robe upon him. Working with strong, deft fingers. She
• 2:50:24
  Speaker 1: soon had the work completed, and the two stepped out
• 2:50:27
  Speaker 1: upon the roof to all intent and purpose, genuine weirus.
• 2:50:32
  Speaker 1: Beside his pistol, Bradley carried the sword of the slain
• 2:50:35
  Speaker 1: Wiru prophet, while the girl was armed with the small
• 2:50:39
  Speaker 1: blade of the red Wairu. Side by side, they walked
• 2:50:43
  Speaker 1: slowly across the roof toward the north edge of the city.
• 2:50:47
  Speaker 1: Wirus flapped above them, and several times they passed others
• 2:50:50
  Speaker 1: walking or sitting upon the Roofs from the temples still
• 2:50:54
  Speaker 1: rose the sounds of commotion, now pierced by occasional shrill screams.
• 2:51:00
  Speaker 1: The murderers are abroad, whispered the girl. Thus will another
• 2:51:03
  Speaker 1: become the tongue of Luata. It is well for us,
• 2:51:07
  Speaker 1: since it keeps them too busy to give the time
• 2:51:09
  Speaker 1: for searching for us. They think that we cannot escape
• 2:51:12
  Speaker 1: the city, and they know that we cannot leave the island,
• 2:51:16
  Speaker 1: and so do I. Bradley shook his head. If there
• 2:51:19
  Speaker 1: is any way we will find it, he said. There
• 2:51:23
  Speaker 1: is no way, replied the girl. Bradley made no response,
• 2:51:27
  Speaker 1: and in silence they continued until the outer edge of
• 2:51:31
  Speaker 1: roofs was visible before them. We are almost there, he whispered.
• 2:51:36
  Speaker 1: The girl felt for his fingers and pressed them. He
• 2:51:39
  Speaker 1: could feel hers trembling as he returned the pressure. Nor
• 2:51:42
  Speaker 1: did he relinquish her hand. And thus they came to
• 2:51:45
  Speaker 1: the edge of the last roof. Here they halted and
• 2:51:48
  Speaker 1: looked about them. To be seen attempting to descend to
• 2:51:52
  Speaker 1: the ground below would be to betray the fact that
• 2:51:54
  Speaker 1: they were not wearers. Bradley wished that their wings were
• 2:51:58
  Speaker 1: attached to their bodies by sin and muscle, rather than
• 2:52:01
  Speaker 1: by ropes of fiber a wiru was flapping far overhead.
• 2:52:06
  Speaker 1: Two more stood near a door a few yards distant.
• 2:52:09
  Speaker 1: Standing between these and one of the outer pedestals that
• 2:52:12
  Speaker 1: supported one of the numerous skulls, Bradley made one end
• 2:52:16
  Speaker 1: of a piece of rope fast about the pedestal and
• 2:52:19
  Speaker 1: dropped the other end to the ground outside the city.
• 2:52:22
  Speaker 1: Then they waited. It was an hour before the coast
• 2:52:26
  Speaker 1: was entirely clear, and then a moment came when no
• 2:52:30
  Speaker 1: whiru was in sight. Now whispered Bradley, and the girl
• 2:52:34
  Speaker 1: grasped the rope and slid over the edge of the
• 2:52:36
  Speaker 1: roof into the darkness below. A moment later, Bradley felt
• 2:52:40
  Speaker 1: two quick pulls upon the rope and immediately followed to
• 2:52:44
  Speaker 1: the girl's side. Across a narrow clearing, they made their
• 2:52:48
  Speaker 1: way and into a wood beyond. All night they walked,
• 2:52:51
  Speaker 1: following the river upward toward its source, and at dawn
• 2:52:55
  Speaker 1: they took shelter in a thicket beside the stream. At
• 2:52:58
  Speaker 1: no time did they hear the cross eye of a carnivore,
• 2:53:01
  Speaker 1: and though many startled animals fled as they approached, they
• 2:53:05
  Speaker 1: were not once menaced by a wild beast. When Bradley
• 2:53:08
  Speaker 1: expressed surprise at the absence of the fiercest beasts that
• 2:53:12
  Speaker 1: are so numerous upon the mainland of Coprona. The girl
• 2:53:15
  Speaker 1: explained the reason that is contained in one of their
• 2:53:18
  Speaker 1: ancient legends. When the rear us first developed wings upon
• 2:53:23
  Speaker 1: which they could fly, they found this island devoid of
• 2:53:26
  Speaker 1: any life other than a few reptiles that live either
• 2:53:30
  Speaker 1: upon land or in the water, and these only close
• 2:53:32
  Speaker 1: to the coast. Requiring meat for food, the wearerus carried
• 2:53:37
  Speaker 1: to the island such animals as they wished for that purpose.
• 2:53:40
  Speaker 1: They still occasionally bring them, and this, with the natural increase,
• 2:53:44
  Speaker 1: keeps them provided with flesh as it will us suggested Bradley.
• 2:53:50
  Speaker 1: The first day they remained in hiding, eating only the
• 2:53:53
  Speaker 1: dried food that Bradley had brought with him from the
• 2:53:56
  Speaker 1: temple's store room, and the next night they set out
• 2:53:59
  Speaker 1: again on the river, continuing steadily on until almost dawn,
• 2:54:04
  Speaker 1: when they came to Low Hills, where the river wound
• 2:54:07
  Speaker 1: through a gorge. It was little more than rivulet now,
• 2:54:10
  Speaker 1: the water clear and cold and filled with fish similar
• 2:54:14
  Speaker 1: to brook trout, though much larger. Not wishing to leave
• 2:54:18
  Speaker 1: the stream, the two waded along its bed to a
• 2:54:21
  Speaker 1: spot where the gorge widened between perpendicular bluffs to a
• 2:54:25
  Speaker 1: wooded acre of level land. Here they stopped, for here
• 2:54:29
  Speaker 1: also the stream ended. They had reached its source, many
• 2:54:33
  Speaker 1: cold springs, bubbling up from the center of a little
• 2:54:36
  Speaker 1: natural amphitheater in the hills and forming a clear and
• 2:54:40
  Speaker 1: beautiful pool, overshadowed by trees upon one side and bounded
• 2:54:45
  Speaker 1: by a little clearing upon the other. With the coming
• 2:54:49
  Speaker 1: of the sun, they saw they had stumbled upon a
• 2:54:52
  Speaker 1: place where they might remain hidden from the weirrous for
• 2:54:55
  Speaker 1: a long time, and also one that they could defend
• 2:54:59
  Speaker 1: against these wa creatures, since the trees would shield them
• 2:55:03
  Speaker 1: from an attack from above, and also hamper the movements
• 2:55:07
  Speaker 1: of the creatures should they attempt to follow them into
• 2:55:09
  Speaker 1: the wood. For three days they rested here, before trying
• 2:55:14
  Speaker 1: to explore the neighboring country. On the fourth, Bradley stated
• 2:55:18
  Speaker 1: that he was going to scale the bluffs and learn
• 2:55:20
  Speaker 1: what lay beyond. He told the girl that she should
• 2:55:24
  Speaker 1: remain in hiding, but she refused to be left, saying
• 2:55:27
  Speaker 1: that whatever fate was to be his, she intended to
• 2:55:31
  Speaker 1: share it, So that he was at last forced to
• 2:55:33
  Speaker 1: permit her to come with him through woods. At the
• 2:55:36
  Speaker 1: summit of the bluff. They made their way toward the north,
• 2:55:39
  Speaker 1: and had gone but a short distance when the wood ended,
• 2:55:43
  Speaker 1: and before them they saw the waters of the inland Sea,
• 2:55:46
  Speaker 1: and dimly in the distance the coveted shore. The beach
• 2:55:50
  Speaker 1: lay some two hundred yards from the foot of the
• 2:55:53
  Speaker 1: hill on which they stood. Nor was there a tree
• 2:55:56
  Speaker 1: nor any other form of shelter between them and the
• 2:55:59
  Speaker 1: water as far up and down the coast as they
• 2:56:01
  Speaker 1: could see. Among other plans, Bradley had thought of constructing
• 2:56:06
  Speaker 1: a covered raft upon which they might drift to the mainland.
• 2:56:10
  Speaker 1: But as such a contrivance would necessarily be of considerable weight,
• 2:56:14
  Speaker 1: it must be built in the water of the sea,
• 2:56:17
  Speaker 1: since they could not hope to move it even a
• 2:56:20
  Speaker 1: short distance overland. If this wood was only at the
• 2:56:23
  Speaker 1: edge of the water, he sighed. But it is not,
• 2:56:27
  Speaker 1: the girl reminded him. And then let us make the
• 2:56:30
  Speaker 1: best of it. We have escaped from death for a time.
• 2:56:33
  Speaker 1: At least we have food and good water, and peace
• 2:56:37
  Speaker 1: and each other. What more could we have upon the mainland.
• 2:56:41
  Speaker 1: But I thought you wanted to get back to your
• 2:56:42
  Speaker 1: own country, he exclaimed. She cast her eyes upon the ground,
• 2:56:47
  Speaker 1: and half turned away. I do, she said, Yet I
• 2:56:51
  Speaker 1: am happy here. I could be little happier there. Bradley
• 2:56:56
  Speaker 1: stood in silent thought. We have food and good water,
• 2:57:00
  Speaker 1: and peace and each other, he repeated to himself. He
• 2:57:04
  Speaker 1: turned then and looked at the girl, and it was
• 2:57:06
  Speaker 1: as though in the days that they had been together,
• 2:57:09
  Speaker 1: this was the first time that he had really seen her.
• 2:57:13
  Speaker 1: The circumstances that had thrown them together, the dangers through
• 2:57:17
  Speaker 1: which they had passed, all the weird and horrible surroundings
• 2:57:21
  Speaker 1: that had formed the background of his knowledge of her,
• 2:57:25
  Speaker 1: had had their effect. She had been but the companion
• 2:57:28
  Speaker 1: of an adventure. Her self, reliance, her endurance, her loyalty
• 2:57:33
  Speaker 1: had been only what one man might take spect of another.
• 2:57:37
  Speaker 1: And he saw that he had unconsciously assumed an attitude
• 2:57:40
  Speaker 1: toward her that he might have assumed toward a man.
• 2:57:44
  Speaker 1: Yet there had been a difference. He recalled now, the
• 2:57:47
  Speaker 1: strange sensation of elation that had thrilled him upon the
• 2:57:51
  Speaker 1: occasions when the girl had pressed his hand in hers,
• 2:57:55
  Speaker 1: and the depression that had followed her announcement of her
• 2:57:58
  Speaker 1: love for Antac. He took a step toward her, a
• 2:58:02
  Speaker 1: fierce yearning to seize her and crush her in his arms,
• 2:58:05
  Speaker 1: swept over him. And then there flashed upon the screen
• 2:58:08
  Speaker 1: of recollection the picture of a stately hall set amidst
• 2:58:12
  Speaker 1: broad gardens and ancient trees, and of a proud old
• 2:58:16
  Speaker 1: man with beetling brows, an old man who held his
• 2:58:20
  Speaker 1: head very high. And Bradley shook his head and turned
• 2:58:23
  Speaker 1: away again. They went back then to their little acre,
• 2:58:28
  Speaker 1: and the days came and went, And the man fashioned
• 2:58:31
  Speaker 1: spear and bow and arrows, and hunted with them that
• 2:58:35
  Speaker 1: they might have meat. And he made hooks of fish bone,
• 2:58:38
  Speaker 1: and caught fishes with wondrous flies of his own invention.
• 2:58:42
  Speaker 1: And the girl gathered fruits and cooked the flesh and
• 2:58:45
  Speaker 1: the fish, and made beds of branches and soft grasses.
• 2:58:49
  Speaker 1: She cured the hides of the animals he killed, and
• 2:58:53
  Speaker 1: made them soft by much pounding. She made sandals for
• 2:58:57
  Speaker 1: herself and for the man, and fashioned a high after
• 2:59:00
  Speaker 1: the manner of those worn by the warriors of her tribe,
• 2:59:03
  Speaker 1: and made the man wear it, for his own garments
• 2:59:06
  Speaker 1: were in rags. She was always the same, sweet and
• 2:59:11
  Speaker 1: kind and helpful, but always there was about her manner
• 2:59:15
  Speaker 1: and her expression just a trace of wistfulness, and often
• 2:59:19
  Speaker 1: she sat and looked at the man when he did
• 2:59:21
  Speaker 1: not know it, her brows puckered in thought, as though
• 2:59:25
  Speaker 1: she were trying to fathom and to understand him. In
• 2:59:30
  Speaker 1: the face of the cliff, Bradley scooped a cave from
• 2:59:33
  Speaker 1: the rotted granite of which the hill was composed, making
• 2:59:37
  Speaker 1: a shelter for them against the reins. He brought wood
• 2:59:40
  Speaker 1: for their cook fire, which they used only in the
• 2:59:43
  Speaker 1: middle of the day, a time when there was little
• 2:59:46
  Speaker 1: likelihood of wearoos being in the air so far from
• 2:59:49
  Speaker 1: their city, And then he learned to bank it with
• 2:59:52
  Speaker 1: earth in such a way that the embers held until
• 2:59:55
  Speaker 1: the following noon without giving off smoke. Always he was
• 2:59:59
  Speaker 1: planning on reaching the mainland, and never a day passed
• 3:00:03
  Speaker 1: that he did not go to the top of the
• 3:00:04
  Speaker 1: hill and look out across the sea towards the dark,
• 3:00:08
  Speaker 1: distant line that meant for him comparative freedom and possibly
• 3:00:12
  Speaker 1: reunion with his comrades. The girl always went with him,
• 3:00:16
  Speaker 1: standing at his side and watching the stern expression on
• 3:00:20
  Speaker 1: his face, with just a tinge of sadness on her own.
• 3:00:24
  Speaker 1: You are not happy, she said once. I should be
• 3:00:28
  Speaker 1: over there with my men. He replied, I do not
• 3:00:31
  Speaker 1: know what may have happened to them. I want you
• 3:00:34
  Speaker 1: to be happy, she said, quite simply. But I should
• 3:00:37
  Speaker 1: be very lonely if you went away and left me here.
• 3:00:41
  Speaker 1: He put his hand on her shoulder. I would not
• 3:00:44
  Speaker 1: do that, little girl, he said gently. If you cannot
• 3:00:48
  Speaker 1: go with me, I shall not go. If either of
• 3:00:51
  Speaker 1: us must go alone, it will be you. Her face
• 3:00:55
  Speaker 1: lighted to a wondrous smile. Then we shall not be separated,
• 3:00:59
  Speaker 1: she said, for I shall never leave you as long
• 3:01:02
  Speaker 1: as we both live. He looked down into her face
• 3:01:06
  Speaker 1: for a moment. And then who is Antac? He asked,
• 3:01:11
  Speaker 1: my brother? She replied, why? And then, even less than
• 3:01:15
  Speaker 1: before could he tell her. It was then that he
• 3:01:19
  Speaker 1: did something he had never done before. He put his
• 3:01:22
  Speaker 1: arms about her, and, stooping, kissed her forehead. Until you
• 3:01:26
  Speaker 1: find Antac, he said, I will be your brother. She
• 3:01:31
  Speaker 1: drew away. I already have a brother, she said, and
• 3:01:35
  Speaker 1: I do not want another. End of Chapter four. Chapter five.
• 3:01:42
  Speaker 1: Days became weeks, and weeks became months, and the months
• 3:01:46
  Speaker 1: followed one another in a lazy procession of hot, humid
• 3:01:50
  Speaker 1: days and warm, humid nights. The fugitives never saw a
• 3:01:55
  Speaker 1: whiru by day, though often at night they heard the
• 3:01:58
  Speaker 1: melancholy flapping of giant wings far above them. Each day
• 3:02:03
  Speaker 1: was much like its predecessor. Bradley splashed about for a
• 3:02:06
  Speaker 1: few minutes in the cold pool early each morning, and
• 3:02:10
  Speaker 1: after a time the girl tried it and l liked it.
• 3:02:13
  Speaker 1: Toward the center it was deep enough for swimming, and
• 3:02:16
  Speaker 1: so he taught her to swim. She was probably the
• 3:02:19
  Speaker 1: first human being in all cast packs long ages who
• 3:02:22
  Speaker 1: had done this thing. And then while she prepared breakfast,
• 3:02:26
  Speaker 1: the man shaved. This he never neglected at first. It
• 3:02:30
  Speaker 1: was a source of wonderment to the girl, for the
• 3:02:32
  Speaker 1: Galu men are beardless. When they needed meat, he hunted. Otherwise,
• 3:02:37
  Speaker 1: he busied himself in improving their shelter, making new and
• 3:02:41
  Speaker 1: better weapons, perfecting his knowledge of the girl's language, and
• 3:02:46
  Speaker 1: teaching her to speak and to write English, anything that
• 3:02:49
  Speaker 1: would keep them both occupied. He still sought new plans
• 3:02:53
  Speaker 1: for escape, but with ever lessening enthusiasm, since each new
• 3:02:58
  Speaker 1: scheme presented some insurre montable obstacle. And then, one day,
• 3:03:03
  Speaker 1: as a bolt out of a clear sky, came that
• 3:03:06
  Speaker 1: which blasted the peace and security of their sanctuary forever
• 3:03:11
  Speaker 1: Bradley was just emerging from the water after his morning
• 3:03:14
  Speaker 1: plunge when from overhead came the sound of flapping wings.
• 3:03:18
  Speaker 1: Glancing quickly up, the man saw a white robe Whiru,
• 3:03:22
  Speaker 1: circling slowly above him. That he had been discovered, he
• 3:03:26
  Speaker 1: could not doubt, since the creature even dropped to a
• 3:03:29
  Speaker 1: lower altitude, as though to assure itself that what it
• 3:03:32
  Speaker 1: saw was a man. Then it rose rapidly and winged
• 3:03:36
  Speaker 1: away toward the city. For two days, Bradley and the
• 3:03:39
  Speaker 1: girl lived in a constant state of apprehension, awaiting the
• 3:03:43
  Speaker 1: moment when the hunters would come for them. But nothing
• 3:03:46
  Speaker 1: happened until just after dawn of the third day, when
• 3:03:50
  Speaker 1: the flapping of wings apprised them of the approach of
• 3:03:53
  Speaker 1: Wiru's Together, they went to the edge of the wood
• 3:03:56
  Speaker 1: and looked up to see five red rogue creatures dropping
• 3:04:00
  Speaker 1: slowly in ever lessening spirals toward their little amphitheater. With
• 3:04:05
  Speaker 1: no attempt at concealment. They came sure of their ability
• 3:04:08
  Speaker 1: to overwhelm these two fugitives, and with the fullest measure
• 3:04:12
  Speaker 1: of self confidence, they landed in the clearing, but a
• 3:04:15
  Speaker 1: few yards from the man and the girl. Following a
• 3:04:19
  Speaker 1: plan already discussed, Bradley and the girl retreated slowly into
• 3:04:23
  Speaker 1: the woods. The weirrous advanced, calling upon them to give
• 3:04:27
  Speaker 1: themselves up, but the quarry made no reply. Farther and
• 3:04:32
  Speaker 1: farther into the little wood, Bradley led the hunters, permitting
• 3:04:35
  Speaker 1: them to approach even closer. Then he circled back again
• 3:04:39
  Speaker 1: toward the clearing, evidently to the great delight of the weirus,
• 3:04:43
  Speaker 1: who now followed more leisurely, awaiting the moment when they
• 3:04:46
  Speaker 1: should be beyond the trees and able to use their wings.
• 3:04:51
  Speaker 1: They had opened into semicircular formation, now with the evident
• 3:04:55
  Speaker 1: intention of cutting the two off from returning into the wood.
• 3:05:00
  Speaker 1: Each Whiru advanced with his curved blade ready in his hand,
• 3:05:04
  Speaker 1: each hideous, face blank and expressionless. It was then that
• 3:05:09
  Speaker 1: Bradley opened fire with his pistol, three shots, aimed with
• 3:05:13
  Speaker 1: careful deliberation, for it had been long since he had
• 3:05:16
  Speaker 1: used the weapon, and he could not afford to chance
• 3:05:19
  Speaker 1: wasting ammunition on missus. At each shot, a weiru dropped,
• 3:05:23
  Speaker 1: and then the remaining two sought escape by flight, screaming
• 3:05:27
  Speaker 1: and wailing after the manner of their kind. When a
• 3:05:30
  Speaker 1: weiru runs, his wings spread almost without anybolition upon his part.
• 3:05:35
  Speaker 1: Since from time immemorial he has always used them to
• 3:05:38
  Speaker 1: balance himself and accelerate his running speed, so that in
• 3:05:42
  Speaker 1: the open they appeared to skim the surface of the
• 3:05:44
  Speaker 1: ground when in the act of running. But here in
• 3:05:47
  Speaker 1: the woods, among the close set bowls, the spreading of
• 3:05:51
  Speaker 1: their wings proved their undoing. It hindered and stopped them,
• 3:05:55
  Speaker 1: and threw them to the ground. And then Bradley was
• 3:05:58
  Speaker 1: upon them, threatening them with instant death if they did
• 3:06:01
  Speaker 1: not surrender, promising them their freedom if they did his bidding.
• 3:06:05
  Speaker 1: As you have seen, he cried, I can kill you
• 3:06:08
  Speaker 1: when I wish, and at a distance you cannot escape me.
• 3:06:12
  Speaker 1: Your only hope of life lies in obedience, quick or
• 3:06:16
  Speaker 1: I kill. The weirus stopped and faced him.
• 3:06:19
  Speaker 3: What do you want of us, asked.
• 3:06:21
  Speaker 1: One, Throw aside your weapons, Bradley commanded. After a moment's hesitation,
• 3:06:27
  Speaker 1: they obeyed. Now approach a great plan. The only plan
• 3:06:31
  Speaker 1: had suddenly come to him like an inspiration. The weirus
• 3:06:35
  Speaker 1: came closer and halted at his command. Bradley turned to
• 3:06:39
  Speaker 1: the girl. There is a rope in the shelter, he said,
• 3:06:42
  Speaker 1: fetch it. She did as he bid, and then he
• 3:06:45
  Speaker 1: directed her to fasten one end of a fifty foot
• 3:06:48
  Speaker 1: length to the ankle of one of the weirus, and
• 3:06:50
  Speaker 1: the opposite end to the second. The creatures gave evidence
• 3:06:54
  Speaker 1: of great fear, but they dared not attempt to prevent
• 3:06:57
  Speaker 1: the act. Now go out into the cleary, said Bradley,
• 3:07:01
  Speaker 1: and remember that I am walking close behind, and that
• 3:07:04
  Speaker 1: I will shoot the nearer one should either attempt to escape.
• 3:07:08
  Speaker 1: That will hold the other until I can kill him
• 3:07:10
  Speaker 1: as well. In the open, he halted them. The girl
• 3:07:14
  Speaker 1: will get upon the back of the one in front,
• 3:07:16
  Speaker 1: announced the Englishman. I will mount the other. She carries
• 3:07:20
  Speaker 1: a sharp blade, and I carry this weapon that you
• 3:07:23
  Speaker 1: now kills easily at a distance. If you disobey in
• 3:07:27
  Speaker 1: the slightest the instructions that I am about to give you,
• 3:07:30
  Speaker 1: you shall both die. That we must die with you
• 3:07:33
  Speaker 1: will not deter us. If you obey, I promise to
• 3:07:37
  Speaker 1: set you free without harming you. You will carry us
• 3:07:40
  Speaker 1: due west, depositing us upon the shore of the mainland.
• 3:07:44
  Speaker 5: That is all.
• 3:07:45
  Speaker 1: It is the price of your lives. Do you agree? Sullenly?
• 3:07:50
  Speaker 1: The weirus acquiesced. Bradley examined the knots that held the
• 3:07:54
  Speaker 1: rope to their ankles, and, feeling them secure, directed the
• 3:07:58
  Speaker 1: girl to mount the back of the leading whiru, himself
• 3:08:02
  Speaker 1: upon the other. Then he gave the signal for the
• 3:08:04
  Speaker 1: two to rise. Together with loud flapping of the powerful wings,
• 3:08:09
  Speaker 1: the creatures took to the air, circling once before they
• 3:08:13
  Speaker 1: topped the trees upon the hill, and then taking a
• 3:08:16
  Speaker 1: course due west out over the waters of the sea.
• 3:08:19
  Speaker 1: Nowhere about them could Bradley see signs of other whirus,
• 3:08:23
  Speaker 1: nor of those other menaces which he had feared might
• 3:08:26
  Speaker 1: bring disaster to his plans for escape. The huge winged
• 3:08:30
  Speaker 1: reptilia that are so numerous above the southern areas of Caspack,
• 3:08:34
  Speaker 1: and which are often seen, though in lesser numbers, farther north,
• 3:08:39
  Speaker 1: nearer and nearer, loomed the mainland. A broad part like expanse,
• 3:08:43
  Speaker 1: stretching inland to the foot of a low plateau spread
• 3:08:47
  Speaker 1: out before them. The little dots in the foreground became
• 3:08:50
  Speaker 1: grazing herds of deer and antelope, and boss. A huge
• 3:08:55
  Speaker 1: wooly rhinoceros wallowed in a mud hole. To the right,
• 3:08:58
  Speaker 1: and beyond a mighty mammoth culled the tender shoots from
• 3:09:01
  Speaker 1: a tall tree. The roars and screams and growls of
• 3:09:05
  Speaker 1: giant carnivora came faintly to their ears. Ah, this was
• 3:09:09
  Speaker 1: cast back, with all its dangers and its primal savagery.
• 3:09:13
  Speaker 1: It brought a fullness to the throat of the Englishman,
• 3:09:16
  Speaker 1: as to one who sees and hears the familiar sights
• 3:09:19
  Speaker 1: and sounds of home after a long absence. Then the
• 3:09:23
  Speaker 1: wearoos dropped swiftly downward to the flower starred turf that
• 3:09:27
  Speaker 1: grew almost to the water's edge. The fugitives slipped from
• 3:09:31
  Speaker 1: their backs, and Bradley told the red robe creatures they
• 3:09:34
  Speaker 1: were free to go. When he had cut the ropes
• 3:09:37
  Speaker 1: from their ankles, they rose with that uncanny wailing upon
• 3:09:40
  Speaker 1: their lips that always brought a shudder to the Englishman,
• 3:09:44
  Speaker 1: and upon dismal wings they flapped away toward frightful ou. Oh.
• 3:09:49
  Speaker 1: When the creatures had gone, the girl turned toward Bradley.
• 3:09:52
  Speaker 1: Why did you have them bring us here? She asked?
• 3:09:55
  Speaker 1: Now we are far from my country. We may never
• 3:09:58
  Speaker 1: live to reach it. We are among enemies who, while
• 3:10:02
  Speaker 1: not so horrible, will kill us just as surely as
• 3:10:05
  Speaker 1: with the weirrous should they capture us, and we have
• 3:10:07
  Speaker 1: before us many marches through lands filled with savage beasts.
• 3:10:12
  Speaker 1: There were two reasons, replied Bradley. You told me that
• 3:10:16
  Speaker 1: there are two Weiru cities at the eastern end of
• 3:10:19
  Speaker 1: the island. To have passed near either of them might
• 3:10:22
  Speaker 1: have been to have brought about our heads hundreds of
• 3:10:24
  Speaker 1: the creatures from whom we could not possibly have escaped. Again,
• 3:10:29
  Speaker 1: my friends must be near this spot. It cannot be
• 3:10:33
  Speaker 1: over two marches to the fort of which I have
• 3:10:35
  Speaker 1: told you. It is my duty to return to them.
• 3:10:38
  Speaker 1: If they still live. We shall find a way to
• 3:10:41
  Speaker 1: return you to your people. And you asked the girl,
• 3:10:45
  Speaker 1: I escape from ou, oh, replied Bradley. I have accomplished
• 3:10:49
  Speaker 1: the impossible once, and so I shall accomplish it again.
• 3:10:53
  Speaker 1: I shall escape from cast back. He was not looking
• 3:10:57
  Speaker 1: at her face as he answered her, and so he
• 3:11:00
  Speaker 1: did not see the shadow of sorrow that crossed her countenance.
• 3:11:04
  Speaker 1: When he raised his eyes again, she was smiling. What
• 3:11:07
  Speaker 1: you wish, I wish, said the girl. Southward along the coast,
• 3:11:13
  Speaker 1: they made their way, following the beach where the walking
• 3:11:16
  Speaker 1: was best, but always keeping close enough to trees to
• 3:11:19
  Speaker 1: insure sanctuary from the beasts and reptiles that so often
• 3:11:23
  Speaker 1: menaced them. It was late in the afternoon when the
• 3:11:27
  Speaker 1: girl suddenly seized Bradley's arm and pointed straight ahead along
• 3:11:31
  Speaker 1: the shore. What is that, she whispered, What strange reptile
• 3:11:35
  Speaker 1: is it? Bradley looked in the direction her slim forefinger indicated.
• 3:11:40
  Speaker 1: He rubbed his eyes and looked again, and then he
• 3:11:43
  Speaker 1: seized her wrist and drew her quickly behind a clump
• 3:11:46
  Speaker 1: of bushes.
• 3:11:47
  Speaker 2: What is it, she asked.
• 3:11:49
  Speaker 1: It is the most frightful reptile that the waters of
• 3:11:52
  Speaker 1: the world have ever known. He replied, It is a
• 3:11:56
  Speaker 1: German u boat. An expression of amazement and understanding lighted
• 3:12:01
  Speaker 1: her features. It is the thing of which you told me,
• 3:12:04
  Speaker 1: she exclaimed, The thing that swims under the water and
• 3:12:08
  Speaker 1: carries men in its belly. It is, replied Bradley. Then
• 3:12:13
  Speaker 1: why do you hide from it, asked the girl. You
• 3:12:15
  Speaker 1: said that now it belonged to your friends. Many months
• 3:12:19
  Speaker 1: have passed since I knew what was going on among
• 3:12:22
  Speaker 1: my friends, he replied, I cannot know what has befallen them.
• 3:12:26
  Speaker 1: They should have been gone from here in this vessel
• 3:12:29
  Speaker 1: long since, and so I cannot understand why it is
• 3:12:33
  Speaker 1: still here. I am going to investigate first before I
• 3:12:36
  Speaker 1: show myself. When I left, there were more Germans on
• 3:12:40
  Speaker 1: the U thirty three than there were men of my
• 3:12:42
  Speaker 1: own party at the fort, and I have had sufficient
• 3:12:45
  Speaker 1: experience of Germans to know that they will bear watching
• 3:12:48
  Speaker 1: if they have not been properly watched since I left.
• 3:12:52
  Speaker 1: Making their way through a fringe of wood that grew
• 3:12:55
  Speaker 1: a few yards inland, the two crept unseen toward the
• 3:12:59
  Speaker 1: U boat, which lay moored to the shore at a
• 3:13:01
  Speaker 1: point which Bradley now recognized as being near the oil
• 3:13:05
  Speaker 1: pool north of Dinosaur. As close as possible to the vessel,
• 3:13:09
  Speaker 1: they halted, crouching low among the dense vegetation, and watched
• 3:13:14
  Speaker 1: the boat for signs of human life about it. The
• 3:13:17
  Speaker 1: hatches were closed, no one could be seen or heard
• 3:13:21
  Speaker 1: for five minutes. Bradley watched, and then he determined to
• 3:13:25
  Speaker 1: board the submarine and investigate. He had risen to carry
• 3:13:29
  Speaker 1: his decision into effect when there suddenly broke upon his ear.
• 3:13:33
  Speaker 1: Uttered in loud and menacing tones, a volley of German
• 3:13:37
  Speaker 1: oaths and expletives, among which he heard English A swine
• 3:13:41
  Speaker 1: hunda repeated several times. The voice did not come from
• 3:13:45
  Speaker 1: the direction of the eu Bolt, but from inland. Creeping forward,
• 3:13:50
  Speaker 1: Bradley reached a spot where through the creepers hanging from
• 3:13:54
  Speaker 1: the trees, he could see a party of men coming
• 3:13:57
  Speaker 1: down toward the shore. He saw Baron fried Greak, Bonchuenborts
• 3:14:01
  Speaker 1: and six of his men, all armed, while marching in
• 3:14:05
  Speaker 1: a little knot among them were Oltsen, Brady, Sinclair, Wilson
• 3:14:09
  Speaker 1: and Whiteley. Bradley knew nothing of the disappearance of Bowen,
• 3:14:14
  Speaker 1: Tyler and Miss LaRue, nor of the perfidy of the
• 3:14:17
  Speaker 1: Germans in shelling the fort and attempting to escape in
• 3:14:21
  Speaker 1: the U thirty three, but he was in no way
• 3:14:24
  Speaker 1: surprised at what he saw before him. The little party
• 3:14:28
  Speaker 1: came slowly onward, the prisoners staggering beneath heavy cans of oil,
• 3:14:33
  Speaker 1: while Schwartz, one of the German non commissioned officers, cursed
• 3:14:36
  Speaker 1: and beat them with a stick of wood, impartially. Bon
• 3:14:40
  Speaker 1: Schuenbords walked in the rear of the column, encouraging Schwartz
• 3:14:44
  Speaker 1: and laughing at the discomfiture of the Britishers. Deets, Hintz
• 3:14:48
  Speaker 1: and Clots also seemed to enjoy the entertainment immensely, but
• 3:14:53
  Speaker 1: two of the men, Plesser and Hindel, marched with eyes
• 3:14:56
  Speaker 1: straight to the front and with scowling faces. Bradley felt
• 3:15:00
  Speaker 1: his blood boil at sight of the cowardly indignities being
• 3:15:04
  Speaker 1: heaped upon his men, and in the brief span of
• 3:15:07
  Speaker 1: time occupied by the column to come abreast of where
• 3:15:10
  Speaker 1: he lay hidden, he made his plans foolhardy though he
• 3:15:14
  Speaker 1: knew them. Then he drew the girl close to him.
• 3:15:17
  Speaker 1: Stay here, he whispered, I am going out to fight
• 3:15:21
  Speaker 1: those beasts, but I shall be killed. Do not let
• 3:15:24
  Speaker 1: them see you. Do not let them take you alive.
• 3:15:27
  Speaker 1: They are more cruel, more cowardly, more beast ill than
• 3:15:31
  Speaker 1: the wearer's. The girl pressed close to him, her face
• 3:15:35
  Speaker 1: very white. Go if that is right, she whispered. But
• 3:15:39
  Speaker 1: if you die, I shall die, for I cannot live
• 3:15:42
  Speaker 1: without you. He looked sharply into her eyes. Oh, he ejaculated,
• 3:15:48
  Speaker 1: What an idiot I bet, Nor could I live without you,
• 3:15:52
  Speaker 1: little girl, And he drew her very close and kissed
• 3:15:56
  Speaker 1: her lips good bye. He disengaged him from her arms
• 3:16:01
  Speaker 1: and looked again in time to see that the rear
• 3:16:03
  Speaker 1: of the column had just passed him. Then he rose
• 3:16:07
  Speaker 1: and leaped quickly and silently from the jungle. Suddenly Bonchuenbords
• 3:16:12
  Speaker 1: felt an arm thrown about his neck, and his pistol
• 3:16:15
  Speaker 1: jerked from its holster. He gave a cry of fright
• 3:16:18
  Speaker 1: and warning, and his men turned to see a half
• 3:16:20
  Speaker 1: naked white man holding their leaders securely from behind and
• 3:16:24
  Speaker 1: aiming a pistol at them over his shoulder. Drop those
• 3:16:28
  Speaker 1: guns came in short, sharp syllables and perfect German from
• 3:16:32
  Speaker 1: the lips of the newcomer. Drop them, or I'll put
• 3:16:35
  Speaker 1: a bullet through the back of Bonschuenbort's head. The Germans
• 3:16:39
  Speaker 1: hesitated for a moment, looking first toward Bonchuenborts and then
• 3:16:43
  Speaker 1: to Schwartz, who was evidently second in command for orders.
• 3:16:47
  Speaker 1: It's the English pig, Bradley, shouted the latter, and he's alone.
• 3:16:51
  Speaker 1: Go and get him. Go yourself, growled Plesser. Hindle moved
• 3:16:56
  Speaker 1: close to the side of Blesser and whispered something to him.
• 3:16:59
  Speaker 1: The latter nodded. Suddenly Von Schoenvortz wheeled about and seized
• 3:17:03
  Speaker 1: Bradley's pistol arm with both hands. Now he shouted, come
• 3:17:08
  Speaker 1: and take him quick. Schwartz and three others leaped forward,
• 3:17:11
  Speaker 1: but Plesser and Hindel held back, looking questioningly toward the
• 3:17:16
  Speaker 1: English prisoners. Then Plesser spoke nolly sur chance Englander. He
• 3:17:21
  Speaker 1: called in lotons, seize Hindle and me and take our
• 3:17:24
  Speaker 1: guns from us. Be e will not fight hard. Oltson
• 3:17:28
  Speaker 1: and Brady were not long in acting upon the suggestion
• 3:17:31
  Speaker 1: they had seen enough of the brutal treatment von Schoenbortz
• 3:17:35
  Speaker 1: accorded his men and the especially venomous attentions he had
• 3:17:39
  Speaker 1: taken great enjoyment in, according Plesser and Hindel to understand
• 3:17:43
  Speaker 1: that these two might be sincere in a desire for revenge.
• 3:17:47
  Speaker 1: In another moment, the two Germans were unarmed, and Olson
• 3:17:51
  Speaker 1: and Brady were running to the support of Bradley. But
• 3:17:54
  Speaker 1: already it seemed too late. Von Schoenvorts had managed to
• 3:17:58
  Speaker 1: drag the Englishmen around so that his back was toward
• 3:18:01
  Speaker 1: Schwartz and the other advancing Germans. Schwartz was almost upon Bradley,
• 3:18:06
  Speaker 1: with gun clubbed and ready to smash down upon the
• 3:18:09
  Speaker 1: englishman's skull. Brady and Olson were charging the Germans in
• 3:18:14
  Speaker 1: the rear, with Wilson, Whitely and Sinclair supporting them with
• 3:18:17
  Speaker 1: bare fists. It seemed that Bradley was doomed when apparently
• 3:18:21
  Speaker 1: out of space, an arrow whizzed, striking Schwartz in the side,
• 3:18:26
  Speaker 1: passing half way through his body to crumple him to
• 3:18:28
  Speaker 1: the earth with a shriek. The man fell, and at
• 3:18:32
  Speaker 1: the same time Oltson and Brady saw the slim figure
• 3:18:35
  Speaker 1: of a young girl standing at the edge of the jungle,
• 3:18:38
  Speaker 1: coolly fitting another arrow to her bull. Bradley had now
• 3:18:42
  Speaker 1: succeeded in wrestling his arm free from von Schwenwert's grip
• 3:18:47
  Speaker 1: and in dropping the ladder with a blow from the
• 3:18:49
  Speaker 1: butt of his pistol. The rest of the English and
• 3:18:52
  Speaker 1: Germans were engaged in a hand to hand encounter, Plesser
• 3:18:56
  Speaker 1: and Hindel, standing aside from the melee and urging their
• 3:18:59
  Speaker 1: comrade to surrender and join with the English against the
• 3:19:03
  Speaker 1: tyranny of von Schuenworts, Hints and Clots, possibly influenced by
• 3:19:08
  Speaker 1: their exhortation, were putting up but a half hearted resistance.
• 3:19:12
  Speaker 1: But Deets, a huge bearded booneck Prussian, yelling like a maniac,
• 3:19:17
  Speaker 1: sought to exterminate the English fine hind with his bayonet,
• 3:19:21
  Speaker 1: fearing to fire his peace lest he kill some of
• 3:19:24
  Speaker 1: his comrades. It was Oltsen who engaged him, and though
• 3:19:28
  Speaker 1: unused to the long German rifle and bayonet, he met
• 3:19:32
  Speaker 1: the bulrush of the hun with the cold, cruel precision
• 3:19:35
  Speaker 1: and science of English bayonet fighting. There was no fainting,
• 3:19:39
  Speaker 1: no retiring, and no parrying that was not also an attack.
• 3:19:43
  Speaker 1: Bayonet fighting to day is not a pretty thing to see.
• 3:19:47
  Speaker 1: It is not an artistic fencing match in which men
• 3:19:50
  Speaker 1: give and take. It is slaughter, inevitable and quickly over deets.
• 3:19:56
  Speaker 1: Lunged once madly at Oltson's throat, a short point, with
• 3:20:00
  Speaker 1: just a twist of the bayonet to the left, sent
• 3:20:02
  Speaker 1: the sharp blade over the Englishman's left shoulder. Instantly, he
• 3:20:06
  Speaker 1: stepped close in, dropped his rifle through his hands and
• 3:20:09
  Speaker 1: grasped it with both hands close below the muzzle, and
• 3:20:12
  Speaker 1: with a short, sharp jab, sent his blade up beneath
• 3:20:16
  Speaker 1: each chin to the brain. So quickly was a thing done,
• 3:20:20
  Speaker 1: and so quick the withdrawal that Olson had wheeled to
• 3:20:23
  Speaker 1: take on another adversary before the German's corpse had toppled
• 3:20:27
  Speaker 1: to the ground. But there were no more adversaries to
• 3:20:30
  Speaker 1: take on. Hindes and clots had thrown down their rifles,
• 3:20:34
  Speaker 1: and with hands above their heads were crying, Comrade, comrade,
• 3:20:38
  Speaker 1: at the tops of their voices. Bon Schuenborg still lay
• 3:20:42
  Speaker 1: where he had fallen. Klesser and Hindle were explaining to
• 3:20:45
  Speaker 1: Bradley that they were glad of the outcome of the fight,
• 3:20:48
  Speaker 1: as they could no longer endure the brutality of the
• 3:20:52
  Speaker 1: U boat commander. The remainder of the men were looking
• 3:20:55
  Speaker 1: at the girl, who now advanced slowly, her bow ready.
• 3:20:59
  Speaker 1: When they turned toward her and held out his hand, Kotan,
• 3:21:03
  Speaker 1: he said, unstring your bow. These are my friends and yours.
• 3:21:08
  Speaker 1: And to the Englishman, this is Kotan. You who saw
• 3:21:12
  Speaker 1: her save me from Schwartz, know a part of what
• 3:21:15
  Speaker 1: I owe her. The rough men gathered about the girl,
• 3:21:19
  Speaker 1: and when she spoke to the men broken English, with
• 3:21:22
  Speaker 1: a smile upon her lips, enhancing the charm of her
• 3:21:25
  Speaker 1: irresistible accent, each and every one of them promptly fell
• 3:21:29
  Speaker 1: in love with her, and constituted himself henceforth her guardian
• 3:21:33
  Speaker 1: and her slave. A moment later, the attention of each
• 3:21:37
  Speaker 1: was called to Plesser by a volley of invective. They
• 3:21:41
  Speaker 1: turned in time to see the man running toward Bonchuenborts,
• 3:21:44
  Speaker 1: who was just rising from the ground. Plesser carried a
• 3:21:48
  Speaker 1: rifle with bayonet fixed that he had snatched from the
• 3:21:51
  Speaker 1: side of Deet's corps. Bonchuenbort's face was livid with fear,
• 3:21:56
  Speaker 1: his jaws working as though he would call for help,
• 3:21:59
  Speaker 1: but no sound came from his blue lips. You struck me,
• 3:22:04
  Speaker 1: shrieked Blesser. Once twice, three times. You struck me pig.
• 3:22:10
  Speaker 1: You murdered Ferk. You drove him insane by your cruelty
• 3:22:14
  Speaker 1: until he took his own life. You are only one
• 3:22:17
  Speaker 1: of your kind. They are all like you, from the
• 3:22:21
  Speaker 1: Kaiser down. I wish that you were the Kaiser. That's
• 3:22:24
  Speaker 1: what I do. And he lunged his bayonet through von
• 3:22:28
  Speaker 1: Schuenberg's chest. Then he let his rifle fall with the
• 3:22:32
  Speaker 1: dying man and wheeled toward Bradley. Here I am, he said,
• 3:22:37
  Speaker 1: do with me as you like. All my life I
• 3:22:40
  Speaker 1: have been kick'd and cuffed by such as that, and
• 3:22:44
  Speaker 1: yet alvis I have gone out when they commanded, singing
• 3:22:47
  Speaker 1: to give up my life if need be, to keep
• 3:22:50
  Speaker 1: them in pava. Only lately have I come to know
• 3:22:54
  Speaker 1: what a fool I have been, But now I am
• 3:22:57
  Speaker 1: no longer a fool. And beside as, I am avenged
• 3:23:01
  Speaker 1: and Swarek is avenged. So you can kill me if
• 3:23:04
  Speaker 1: you wish. Here I am. If I bays after beIN
• 3:23:08
  Speaker 1: the king, said Olson, I'd pin the thee sea on
• 3:23:11
  Speaker 1: your noble chist, But beIN only an eye Richmond of
• 3:23:15
  Speaker 1: his a freed name for which God forgive me. The
• 3:23:18
  Speaker 1: beast I can do is shake your hand. You will
• 3:23:22
  Speaker 1: not be punished, said Bradley. There are four of you left.
• 3:23:26
  Speaker 1: If you four want to come along and work with us,
• 3:23:29
  Speaker 1: we will take you, but you will come as prisoners.
• 3:23:32
  Speaker 1: It suits me, said Plessure. Now that to Captain dew
• 3:23:36
  Speaker 1: Tended is dead, you need not fear us. All our
• 3:23:39
  Speaker 1: lives we have known nothing but to obey his class.
• 3:23:44
  Speaker 1: If I had not killed him, I suppose I would
• 3:23:46
  Speaker 1: be fool enough to obey him again. But he is dead.
• 3:23:50
  Speaker 1: Now ye will obey you. We must obey some one
• 3:23:55
  Speaker 1: and you. Bradley turned to the other survivors of the
• 3:23:58
  Speaker 1: original crew of the You thirty three each promised obedience.
• 3:24:03
  Speaker 1: The two dead Germans were buried in a single grave,
• 3:24:06
  Speaker 1: and then the party boarded the submarine and stowed away
• 3:24:09
  Speaker 1: the oil. Here Bradley told the men what had befallen
• 3:24:13
  Speaker 1: him since the night of September fourteenth, when he had
• 3:24:16
  Speaker 1: disappeared so mysteriously from the camp upon the plateau. Now
• 3:24:21
  Speaker 1: he learned for the first time that Bowen J. Tyler
• 3:24:24
  Speaker 1: Junior and Miss LaRue had been missing even longer than he,
• 3:24:29
  Speaker 1: and that no faintest trace of them had been discovered.
• 3:24:32
  Speaker 1: Olsen told him of how the Germans had returned and
• 3:24:36
  Speaker 1: waited in ambush for them outside the fort, capturing them
• 3:24:40
  Speaker 1: that they might be used to assist in the work
• 3:24:42
  Speaker 1: of refining the oil and later in manning the U
• 3:24:45
  Speaker 1: thirty three. And Plesser told briefly of the experiences of
• 3:24:49
  Speaker 1: the German crew under Bonchuenvortz since they had escaped from
• 3:24:53
  Speaker 1: cast back months before, of how they lost their bearings
• 3:24:57
  Speaker 1: after having been shelled by ships they had attempted to
• 3:25:01
  Speaker 1: sneak farther north, and how it last, with provisions gone
• 3:25:05
  Speaker 1: and fuel almost exhausted, they had sought and at last found,
• 3:25:09
  Speaker 1: more by accident than design, the mysterious island they had
• 3:25:13
  Speaker 1: once been so glad to leave behind. Now announced Bradley,
• 3:25:17
  Speaker 1: we'll plan for the future. The boat has fuel, provisions
• 3:25:21
  Speaker 1: and water for a month. I believe you said, bless her,
• 3:25:24
  Speaker 1: there are ten of us to man it. We have
• 3:25:26
  Speaker 1: a last sad duty here. We must search for miss
• 3:25:29
  Speaker 1: LaRue and mister Tyler, I say a sad duty because
• 3:25:33
  Speaker 1: we know that we shall not find them. But it
• 3:25:36
  Speaker 1: is none the less our duty to comb the shoreline,
• 3:25:39
  Speaker 1: firing signal shells at intervals, that we at least may
• 3:25:42
  Speaker 1: leave at last with full knowledge that we have done
• 3:25:45
  Speaker 1: all that men might do to locate them. None dissented
• 3:25:49
  Speaker 1: from this conviction, nor was there a voice raised in
• 3:25:52
  Speaker 1: protest against the plan to at least make assurance doubly
• 3:25:56
  Speaker 1: sure before quitting cast back forever. And so they started
• 3:26:00
  Speaker 1: cruising slowly up the coast and firing an occasional shot
• 3:26:04
  Speaker 1: from the gun. Often the vessel was brought to a stop,
• 3:26:08
  Speaker 1: and always there were anxious eyes scanning the shore for
• 3:26:11
  Speaker 1: an answering signal. Late in the afternoon they caught sight
• 3:26:15
  Speaker 1: of a number of Bandloo warriors. But when the vessel
• 3:26:18
  Speaker 1: approached the shore and the natives realized that human beings
• 3:26:22
  Speaker 1: stood upon the back of the strange monster of the sea,
• 3:26:25
  Speaker 1: they fled in terror before Bradley could come with inhaling distance.
• 3:26:30
  Speaker 1: That night, they dropped anchor at the mouth of a
• 3:26:33
  Speaker 1: sluggish stream whose warm waters swarmed with millions of tiny
• 3:26:37
  Speaker 1: tadpole like organisms, minute human spawn, starting on their precarious
• 3:26:43
  Speaker 1: journey from some inland pool toward the beginning, a journey
• 3:26:47
  Speaker 1: which one in millions might perhaps survive to complete. Already
• 3:26:52
  Speaker 1: almost at the inception of life, they were being greeted
• 3:26:56
  Speaker 1: by thousands of voracious mouths, as fish and reptiles of
• 3:27:01
  Speaker 1: many kinds fought to devour them, the while other and
• 3:27:04
  Speaker 1: larger creatures pursued the devours, to be in turn preyed
• 3:27:08
  Speaker 1: upon by some other of the countless forms that inhabit
• 3:27:11
  Speaker 1: the deeps of Caprona's frightful Sea. The second day was
• 3:27:16
  Speaker 1: practically a repetition of the first. They moved very slowly,
• 3:27:20
  Speaker 1: with frequent stops, and once they landed in the crolew
• 3:27:24
  Speaker 1: country to hunt. Here they were attacked by the bow
• 3:27:27
  Speaker 1: and arrow men, whom they could not persuade to pulav
• 3:27:30
  Speaker 1: with them. So belligerent were the natives that it became
• 3:27:34
  Speaker 1: necessary to fire into them in order to escape their
• 3:27:37
  Speaker 1: persistent and ferocious attentions. What chance asked Bradley, as they
• 3:27:42
  Speaker 1: were returning to the boat with their game. Could Tyler
• 3:27:45
  Speaker 1: and Miss LaRue have had among such as these? But
• 3:27:49
  Speaker 1: they continued on their fruitless quest, and the third day,
• 3:27:52
  Speaker 1: after cruising along the shore of a deep inlet, they
• 3:27:56
  Speaker 1: passed a line of lofty cliffs that formed the southern
• 3:27:59
  Speaker 1: shore of the inlet and rounded a sharp promontory. About noon.
• 3:28:04
  Speaker 1: Kotan and Bradley were on deck alone, and as the
• 3:28:07
  Speaker 1: new shore line appeared beyond the point, the girl gave
• 3:28:10
  Speaker 1: an exclamation of joy and seized the man's hand in hers.
• 3:28:15
  Speaker 1: Oh look, she cried, the Gallous country, the Galu country.
• 3:28:20
  Speaker 1: It is my country that I never thought to see again.
• 3:28:24
  Speaker 1: You are glad to come again, Kotan asked Bradley. Oh
• 3:28:28
  Speaker 1: so glad, she cried. And you will come with me
• 3:28:32
  Speaker 1: to my people. We may live here among them, and
• 3:28:35
  Speaker 1: you will be a great warrior. Oh when your dies,
• 3:28:39
  Speaker 1: you may even be chief, For there is none so
• 3:28:42
  Speaker 1: mighty as my warrior.
• 3:28:44
  Speaker 3: You will come.
• 3:28:45
  Speaker 1: Bradley shook his head. I cannot, little Kotan, he answered,
• 3:28:50
  Speaker 1: My country needs me, and I must go back. Maybe
• 3:28:54
  Speaker 1: some day I shall return. You will not forget me Kotan.
• 3:28:58
  Speaker 1: She looked at him and wide eyed. Wonder you are
• 3:29:01
  Speaker 1: going away from me? She asked, in a very small voice.
• 3:29:05
  Speaker 1: You are going away from Kotan. Bradley looked down upon
• 3:29:10
  Speaker 1: the little bowed head. He felt the soft cheek against
• 3:29:13
  Speaker 1: his bare arm, and he felt something else there too,
• 3:29:17
  Speaker 1: hot drops of moisture that ran down to his very
• 3:29:20
  Speaker 1: finger tips and splashed, but each one wrung from a
• 3:29:23
  Speaker 1: woman's heart. He bent low and raised the tear stained
• 3:29:27
  Speaker 1: face to his own. No, Kotan, he said, I am
• 3:29:32
  Speaker 1: not going away from you, for you are going with me.
• 3:29:35
  Speaker 1: You are going back to my own country to be
• 3:29:38
  Speaker 1: my wife. Tell me that you will Kotan. And he
• 3:29:42
  Speaker 1: bent still lower yet from his height, and kissed her lips.
• 3:29:46
  Speaker 1: Nor did he need more than the wonderful new light
• 3:29:49
  Speaker 1: in her eyes to tell him that she would go
• 3:29:52
  Speaker 1: to the end of the world with him if he
• 3:29:54
  Speaker 1: would but take her. And then the gun crew came
• 3:29:57
  Speaker 1: up from below again to fire a signal shot, and
• 3:30:00
  Speaker 1: the two were brought down from the high heaven of
• 3:30:03
  Speaker 1: their new happiness to the scarred and weather beaten deck
• 3:30:07
  Speaker 1: of the U thirty three. An hour later, the vessel
• 3:30:11
  Speaker 1: was running close in by a shore of wondrous beauty,
• 3:30:14
  Speaker 1: beside a part like meadow that stretched back a mile
• 3:30:17
  Speaker 1: inland to the foot of a plateau. When Whiteley called
• 3:30:20
  Speaker 1: attention to a score of figures clambering downward from the
• 3:30:24
  Speaker 1: elevation to the lowland below, the engines were reversed and
• 3:30:29
  Speaker 1: the boat brought to a stop, while all hands gathered
• 3:30:32
  Speaker 1: on deck to watch the little party coming toward them
• 3:30:34
  Speaker 1: across the meadow. They are gallows, cried Kotan. They are
• 3:30:39
  Speaker 1: my own people. Let me speak to them, lest they
• 3:30:42
  Speaker 1: think we come to fight them. Put me ashore, my man,
• 3:30:45
  Speaker 1: and I will go meet them. The nose of the
• 3:30:48
  Speaker 1: U boat was run close in to the steep bank,
• 3:30:51
  Speaker 1: But when Kotan would have run forward alone, Bradley seized
• 3:30:55
  Speaker 1: her hand and held her back. I will go with you, Kotan,
• 3:30:58
  Speaker 1: he said, and together they advanced to meet the oncoming party.
• 3:31:03
  Speaker 1: There were about twenty warriors moving forward in a thin
• 3:31:06
  Speaker 1: line as our infantry advance as skirmishers. Bradley could not
• 3:31:11
  Speaker 1: but notice the marked difference between this formation and the
• 3:31:15
  Speaker 1: moblike methods of the lower tribes he had come in
• 3:31:18
  Speaker 1: contact with, and he commented upon it to Kotan. Galou
• 3:31:22
  Speaker 1: warriors always advance into battle. Thus, she said, the lesser
• 3:31:26
  Speaker 1: people remain in a huddled group where they can scarce
• 3:31:30
  Speaker 1: use their weapons. The while they present so big a
• 3:31:33
  Speaker 1: mark to us that our spears and arrows cannot miss them.
• 3:31:37
  Speaker 1: But when they hurl theirs at our warriors, if they
• 3:31:40
  Speaker 1: miss the first man, there is no chance that they
• 3:31:43
  Speaker 1: will kill some one behind him. Stand still now, she cautioned,
• 3:31:48
  Speaker 1: and fold your arms. They will not harmss them. Bradley
• 3:31:52
  Speaker 1: did as he was bid, and the two stood with
• 3:31:55
  Speaker 1: arms folded as the line of warriors approached. When they
• 3:31:59
  Speaker 1: had come within some fifty yards, they halted, and one spoke,
• 3:32:04
  Speaker 1: Who are you? And from whence do you come?
• 3:32:07
  Speaker 2: He asked?
• 3:32:08
  Speaker 1: And then Kotan gave a little glad cry and sprang
• 3:32:11
  Speaker 1: forward with outstretched arms outain, She exclaimed.
• 3:32:16
  Speaker 3: Do you not know your little Kotan.
• 3:32:19
  Speaker 1: The warrior stared incredulous for a moment, and then he
• 3:32:23
  Speaker 1: too ran forward, and when they met, took the girl
• 3:32:25
  Speaker 1: in his arms. It was then that Bradley experienced to
• 3:32:29
  Speaker 1: the full a sensation that was new to him, a
• 3:32:33
  Speaker 1: sudden hatred for the strained warrior before him, and a
• 3:32:36
  Speaker 1: desire to kill without knowing why he would kill, he
• 3:32:40
  Speaker 1: moved quickly to the girl's side and grasped her wrist.
• 3:32:44
  Speaker 1: Who is this man, he demanded in cold tones. Kotan
• 3:32:49
  Speaker 1: turned a surprised face toward the Englishman, and then of
• 3:32:52
  Speaker 1: a sudden broke forth into a merry peal of laughter.
• 3:32:55
  Speaker 1: This is my father, Bradley, she cried. And who is Bradley,
• 3:33:00
  Speaker 1: demanded the warrior. He is my man, replied Cotan. Simply
• 3:33:05
  Speaker 1: by what right, insisted Tad, And then she told him
• 3:33:10
  Speaker 1: briefly of all that she had passed through since the
• 3:33:12
  Speaker 1: weirus had stolen her, and of how Bradley had rescued
• 3:33:16
  Speaker 1: her and sought to rescue Antac, her brother. You are
• 3:33:20
  Speaker 1: satisfied with him, asked Tad, Yes, replied the girl proudly.
• 3:33:25
  Speaker 1: It was then that Bradley's attention was attracted to the
• 3:33:29
  Speaker 1: edge of the plateau by a movement there, and looking closely,
• 3:33:33
  Speaker 1: he saw a horse bearing two figures sliding down the
• 3:33:36
  Speaker 1: steep declivity. Once at the bottom, the animal came charging
• 3:33:41
  Speaker 1: across the meadow land at a rapid run. It was
• 3:33:44
  Speaker 1: a magnificent animal, a great bay stallion with a white
• 3:33:49
  Speaker 1: blazed face and white fore legs. To the knees, its
• 3:33:52
  Speaker 1: barrel encircled by a broad surcingle of white, and as
• 3:33:56
  Speaker 1: it came to a sudden stop beside Tan, the English
• 3:34:00
  Speaker 1: and saw that it bore a man and a girl,
• 3:34:02
  Speaker 1: a tall man and a girl as beautiful as Kotan.
• 3:34:06
  Speaker 1: When the girl espied the latter, she slid from the
• 3:34:09
  Speaker 1: horse and ran toward her, fairly, screaming for joy. The
• 3:34:13
  Speaker 1: man dismounted and stood beside Tan. Like Bradley, he was
• 3:34:17
  Speaker 1: garbed after the fashion of the surrounding warriors, but there
• 3:34:21
  Speaker 1: was a subtle difference between him and his companion. Possibly
• 3:34:25
  Speaker 1: he detected a similar difference in Bradley, for his first
• 3:34:29
  Speaker 1: question was from what country, and though he spoke in Galoo,
• 3:34:33
  Speaker 1: Bradley thought he detected an accent England, replied Bradley. A
• 3:34:39
  Speaker 1: broad smile lighted the newcomer's face as he held out
• 3:34:42
  Speaker 1: his hand. I am Tom Billings of Santa Monica, California,
• 3:34:46
  Speaker 1: he said, I know all about you, and I'm mighty
• 3:34:49
  Speaker 1: glad to find you alive. How did you get here,
• 3:34:53
  Speaker 1: asked Bradley. I thought ours was the only party of
• 3:34:56
  Speaker 1: men from the outer world ever to enter Kaprona. It
• 3:35:00
  Speaker 1: was until we came in search of Bowen. J Tyler Junior, replied, Billings.
• 3:35:05
  Speaker 1: We found him and sent him home with his bride,
• 3:35:08
  Speaker 1: but I was kept a prisoner here. Bradley's face darkened.
• 3:35:13
  Speaker 1: Then they were not among friends, after all. There are
• 3:35:16
  Speaker 1: ten of us down there on a German sub with
• 3:35:18
  Speaker 1: small arms and a gun. He said quickly in English.
• 3:35:21
  Speaker 1: It will be no trick to get away from these people.
• 3:35:24
  Speaker 1: You don't know, my jailor, replied Billings, Or you'd not
• 3:35:28
  Speaker 1: be so sure. Wait, I'll introduce you, And then, turning
• 3:35:32
  Speaker 1: to the girl who had accompanied him, he called her
• 3:35:34
  Speaker 1: by name Ajoor, he said, permit me to introduce Lieutenant Bradley,
• 3:35:39
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Missus Billings, my jailor. The Englishman laughed as he
• 3:35:44
  Speaker 1: shook hands with the girl. You are not as good
• 3:35:47
  Speaker 1: a soldier as I, he said to Billings. Instead of
• 3:35:50
  Speaker 1: being taken prisoner myself, I have taken one. Missus Bradley.
• 3:35:54
  Speaker 1: This is mister Billings. Ajor, quick to understand, turned toward Kotan.
• 3:36:00
  Speaker 1: You are going back with him to his country, she asked.
• 3:36:03
  Speaker 1: Kotan admitted it. You dare, asked Ajor, but your father
• 3:36:08
  Speaker 1: will not permit it. Jor my father high Chief of
• 3:36:11
  Speaker 1: the Galows, will not permit it, for like me, you
• 3:36:14
  Speaker 1: are cosantlo Oh, Kotan. If we but could, how I
• 3:36:19
  Speaker 1: would love to see all the strange and wonderful things
• 3:36:22
  Speaker 1: of which my Tom tells me. Bradley bent and whispered
• 3:36:26
  Speaker 1: in her ear, say the word, and you may both
• 3:36:29
  Speaker 1: go with us. Bellings heard and speaking in English, asked
• 3:36:34
  Speaker 1: Ajor if she would go. Yes, she answered, if you
• 3:36:38
  Speaker 1: wish it. But you know my Tom that if Georg
• 3:36:41
  Speaker 1: captured us, both you and Kotan's man will pay the
• 3:36:44
  Speaker 1: penalty with your lives. Not even his love for me
• 3:36:47
  Speaker 1: nor his admiration for you can save you. Bradley noticed
• 3:36:52
  Speaker 1: that she spoke in English, broken English like Kotan's, but
• 3:36:56
  Speaker 1: equally appealing. We can easily get you aboard the ship,
• 3:36:59
  Speaker 1: he said, on some pretext or other, and then we
• 3:37:03
  Speaker 1: can steam away. They can neither harm nor detain us,
• 3:37:06
  Speaker 1: nor will we have to fire a shot at them.
• 3:37:09
  Speaker 1: And so it was done, Bradley and Kotan, taking Ajor
• 3:37:13
  Speaker 1: and Billings aboard to show them the vessel, which almost
• 3:37:16
  Speaker 1: immediately raised anchor and moved slowly out into the sea.
• 3:37:21
  Speaker 1: I hate to do it, said Billings. They have been
• 3:37:23
  Speaker 1: fine to me. Joor and Tan are splendid men, and
• 3:37:27
  Speaker 1: they will think me an ingrate. But I can't waste
• 3:37:30
  Speaker 1: my life here when there is much to be done
• 3:37:32
  Speaker 1: in the outer world. As they steamed down the inland
• 3:37:36
  Speaker 1: Sea past the island of u O, the stories of
• 3:37:40
  Speaker 1: their adventures were retold, and Bradley learned that Bowen Tyler
• 3:37:44
  Speaker 1: and his bride had left the Galou country but a
• 3:37:47
  Speaker 1: fortnight before, and that there was every reason to believe
• 3:37:51
  Speaker 1: that the Torriodor might still be lying in the Pacific,
• 3:37:55
  Speaker 1: not far off the subterranean mouth of the river which
• 3:37:58
  Speaker 1: omitted Caprona's heated waters into the ocean. Late in the
• 3:38:02
  Speaker 1: second day, after running through swarms of hideous reptiles, they
• 3:38:07
  Speaker 1: submerged at the point where the river entered beneath the cliffs,
• 3:38:11
  Speaker 1: and shortly after rose to the sunlit surface of the Pacific.
• 3:38:15
  Speaker 1: But nowhere, as far as they could see, was sign
• 3:38:18
  Speaker 1: of another craft down the coast. They steamed toward the
• 3:38:22
  Speaker 1: beach where Billings had made his crossing in the hydro aeroplane,
• 3:38:26
  Speaker 1: and just at dusk the lookout announced a light dead ahead.
• 3:38:31
  Speaker 1: It proved to be aboard the Torreador and a half
• 3:38:33
  Speaker 1: hour later, there was such a reunion on the deck
• 3:38:36
  Speaker 1: of the trigged little yacht as no one there had
• 3:38:39
  Speaker 1: ever dreamed might be possible. Of the allies, there were
• 3:38:43
  Speaker 1: only Tippett and James to be mourned, and no one
• 3:38:46
  Speaker 1: mourned any of the Germans dead, nor Benson, the trader,
• 3:38:50
  Speaker 1: whose ugly story was first told in Bowen Tyler's manuscript.
• 3:38:54
  Speaker 1: Tyler and the rescue party had but just reached the
• 3:38:57
  Speaker 1: yacht that afternoon. They had heard faintly the signal shots
• 3:39:01
  Speaker 1: fired by the You thirty three, but had been unable
• 3:39:04
  Speaker 1: to locate their direction, and so had assumed that they
• 3:39:07
  Speaker 1: had come from the guns of the Torriodor. It was
• 3:39:10
  Speaker 1: a happy party that sailed north towards sunny southern California,
• 3:39:15
  Speaker 1: the old You thirty three trailing in the wake of
• 3:39:17
  Speaker 1: the Toryodor, and flying with the latter the glorious stars
• 3:39:21
  Speaker 1: and stripes beneath which she had been borne in the
• 3:39:24
  Speaker 1: shipyard at Santa Monica. Three newly married couples, their bonds
• 3:39:29
  Speaker 1: now duly solemnized by the master of the ship, joyed
• 3:39:32
  Speaker 1: in the peace and security of the untracked waters of
• 3:39:35
  Speaker 1: the South Pacific, and the unique honeymoon, which, had it
• 3:39:39
  Speaker 1: not been for stern duty ahead, they could have wished
• 3:39:42
  Speaker 1: protracted till the end of time. And so they came
• 3:39:46
  Speaker 1: one day to dock at the shipyard which borne Tider
• 3:39:49
  Speaker 1: now controlled. And here the You thirty three still lies,
• 3:39:53
  Speaker 1: while those who pass so many eventful days within and
• 3:39:57
  Speaker 1: because of her, have gone their various ways. End of
• 3:40:02
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, end of Out of Time's Abyss