 1 This is the tale of Bradley, after he left Fort Dinosaur upon the west coast of the Great Lake that is in the centre of the island. Upon the fourth day of September 1916 he set out with four companions, Sinclair, Brady, James and Tibbet, to search along the base of the barrier cliffs for a point at which they might be scaled. Through the heavy Caspacian air, beneath the swollen sun, the five men marched northward from Fort Dinosaur, now waist-deep in lush jungle grasses, starred with myriad gorgeous blooms, now across open meadowland and park-like expanses, and again, plunging into dense forests of eucalyptus and acacia, and giant arboreos ferns, with feathered fronds waving gently a hundred feet above their heads. But them upon the ground, among the trees and in the air over them, moved and swung and soared the countless forms of Caspac's teeming life. Always were they menaced by some frightful thing, and seldom were their rifles cool. Yet even in the brief time they had dwelt upon Caprona, they had become callous to danger, so that they swung along laughing and chatting like soldiers on a summer hike. This reminds me of South Clark Street, remarked Brady, who had once served on the traffic squad in Chicago, and as no one asked him why, he volunteered that it was because it's no place for an Irishman. South Clark Street and Heaven have something in common then, suggested Sinclair. Just and tippet laughed, and then a hideous growl broke from a dense thicket ahead, and diverted their attention to other matters. One of them be amiss of Olly Ritt, muttered tippet as they came to a halt, and with guns ready awaited the almost inevitable charge. Hungry lot of beggars these, said Bradley, always trying to eat everything they see. For a moment no further sound came from the thicket. He may be feeding now, suggested Bradley. We'll try to go round him. Can't waste ammunition. Won't last forever. Follow me." And he set off, at right angles, to their former course, hoping to avert a charge. They had taken a dozen steps, perhaps, when the thicket moved to the advance of the thing within it. The leafy branches parted, and the hideous head of a gigantic bear emerged. Pick your trees, whispered Bradley. Can't waste ammunition. The men looked about them. The bear took a couple of steps forward, still growling menacingly. He was exposed to the shoulders now. Tippet took one look at the monster and bolted for the nearest tree, and then the bear charged. He charged straight for Tippet. The other men scattered for the various trees they had selected, all except Bradley. He stood watching Tippet and the bear. The man had a good start, and the tree was not far away. But the speed of the enormous creature behind him was something to marvel at. Yet Tippet was in a fair way to make his sanctuary when his foot caught in a tangle of roots, and down he went, his rifle flying from his hand and falling several yards away. Instantly Bradley's piece was at his shoulder. There was a sharp report answered by a roar of mingled rage and pain from the carnivore. Tippet attempted to scramble to his feet. Lie still, shouted Bradley. Can't waste ammunition. The bear halted in its tracks, wheeled toward Bradley, and then back again toward Tippet. Again the former's rifle spit angrily, and the bear turned again in his direction. Bradley shouted loudly, Come on, you behemoth of holy writ. He cried, Come on, you duffer, can't waste ammunition. And as he saw the bear apparently on the verge of deciding to charge him, he encouraged the idea by backing rapidly away, knowing that an angry beast will more often charge one, who moves than one who lies still. And the bear did charge, like a bolt of lightning he flashed down upon the Englishman. Now run! Bradley called to Tippet and himself turned in flight toward a nearby tree. The other men, now safely ensconced upon various branches, watched the race with breathless interest. Would Bradley make it? It seemed scarce possible. And if he didn't, James gasped at the thought. Six feet at the shoulder stood the frightful mountain of blood, mad flesh, and bone, and sign knew, that was bearing down with the speed of an express train upon the seemingly slow-moving man. It all happened in a few seconds, but they were seconds that seemed like hours to the men who watched. They saw Tippet leap to his feet at Bradley's shouted warning. They saw him run, stooping to recover his rifle as he passed the spot where it had fallen. They saw him glance back toward Bradley. And then they saw him stop short of the tree that might have given him safety, and turn back in the direction of the bear. Firing as he ran, Tippet raced after the great cave bear, the monstrous thing that should have been extinct ages before, and ran for it and fired, even as the beast was almost upon Bradley. The men in the tree scarcely breathed. It seemed to them such a futile thing for Tippet to do. And Tippet of all men, they had never looked upon Tippet as a coward. There seemed to be no cowards among that strangely assorted company that fate had gathered together from the four corners of the earth. But Tippet was considered a cautious man. Overcautious some thought him. How futile he and his little pop-gun appeared as he dashed after that living engine of destruction. But oh how glorious it was some such thought as this that ran through Brady's mind, though articulated it might have been expressed otherwise, albeit more forcefully. Just then it occurred to Brady to fire, and he too opened upon the bear. But at the same instant the animals stumbled and fell forward. They still growling most fiercely. Tippet never stopped running or firing until he stood within a foot of the brute, which lay almost touching Bradley, and was already struggling to regain its feet. Placing the muzzle of his gun against the bear's ear, Tippet pulled the trigger. The creature sank limply to the ground, and Bradley scrambled to his feet. "'Good work, Tippet,' he said, mightily obliged to you, awful waste of ammunition, really. And then they resumed the march, and in fifteen minutes the encounter had ceased even to be a topic of conversation. For two days they continued upon their perilous way. Already the cliffs loomed high and forbidding, close ahead, that sign of break to encourage hope, that somewhere they might be scaled. Late in the afternoon the party crossed a small stream of warm water, upon the sluggishly moving surface of which floated countless millions of tiny green eggs, surrounded by a light scum of the same colour, though of a darker shade. Their past experience of caspac had taught them that they might expect to come upon a stagnant pool of warm water if they followed the stream to its source. But there they were almost certain to find some of caspac's grotesque man-like creatures. Already since they had disembarked from the U-33, after its perilous trip through the subterranean channel beneath the barrier cliffs, had brought them into the island sea of caspac, had they encountered what had appeared to be three distinct types of these creatures. There had been the pure apes, huge gorilla-like beasts, and those who walked, trifle more erect and had features with just a shade more of the human cast about them. Then there were men like Arm, whom they had captured and confined at the fort. Arm the club man. Well-known club man, Tyler had called him. Arm and his people had knowledge of a speech. They had a language in which they were unlike the race just inferior to them. And they walked much more erect and were less hairy. But it was principally the fact that they possessed a spoken language and carried a weapon that differentiated them from the others. All of these peoples had proven belligerent in the extreme. In common with the rest of the fauna of Caprona, the first law of nature as they seemed to understand it was to kill, kill, kill. And so it was that Bradley had no desire to follow up the little stream toward the pool, near which were sure to be the caves of some savage tribe. But fortune played him an unkind trick. For the pool was much closer than he imagined, its southern end reaching fully a mile south of the point at which they crossed the stream. And so it was that after forcing their way through a tangle of jungle vegetation they came out upon the edge of the pool which they had wished to avoid. Almost simultaneously there appeared south of them a party of naked men armed with clubs and hatchets. Both parties halted as they caught sight of one another. The men from the fort saw before them a hunting party, evidently returning to its caves or village laid in with meat. They were large men with features closely resembling those of the African Negro, though their skins were white. Short hair grew upon a large portion of their limbs and bodies, which still retained a considerable trace of apish progenitors. They were, however, a distinctly higher type than the Bollew or Clubmen. Bradley would have been glad to have averted a meeting, but as he desired to lead his party south around the end of the pool, and as it was hemmed in by the jungle on one side and the water on the other, there seemed to no escape from an encounter. On the chance that he might avoid a clash, Bradley stepped forward with a braced hand. We are friends, he called in the tongue of arm, the Bollew who had been held a prisoner at the fort. Permit us to pass in peace. We will not harm you. At this the hatchet men set up a great jabbering with much laughter, loud and boisterous, no shouted one. You will not harm us, for we shall kill you. Come, we kill, we kill. And with hideous shouts they charged down upon the Europeans. Sinclair, you may fire, said Bradley quietly. Pick off the leader. Can't waste ammunition. The Englishman raised his piece to his shoulder and took a quick aim at the breast of the yelling savage, leaping toward them. Directly behind the leader came another hatchet man, and with the report of Sinclair's rifle, both warriors lunged forward in the tall grass, pierced by the same bullet. The effect upon the rest of the band was electrical. As one man they came to a sudden halt, wheeled to the east and dashed into the jungle, where the men could hear them forcing their way in an effort to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the authors of this new and frightful noise that killed warriors at a great distance. Both the savages were dead when Bradley approached to examine them, and as the Europeans gathered around, other eyes were bent upon them with greater curiosity than they displayed for the victim of Sinclair's bullet. When the party again took up the march around the southern end of the pool, the owner of the eyes followed them, large, round eyes, almost expressionless, except for a certain cold cruelty which glinted malignly from under their pale gray irises. All unconscious of the stalker, the men came, late in the afternoon, to a spot which seemed favourable as a camp site, a cold spring bubbled from the base of a rocky formation which overhung and partially encircled a small enclosure. At Bradley's command the men took up the duties assigned them, gathering wood, building a cook fire, and preparing the evening meal. It was while they were thus engaged that Brady's attention was attracted by the dismal flapping of huge wings. He glanced up, expecting to see one of the great flying reptiles of the bygone age, his rifle ready in his hand. Brady was a brave man. He had gripped his way up narrow tenement stairs and taken an armed maniac from a dark room without turning a hair, but now as he looked up he went white and staggered back. God, he almost screamed, what is it? Attracted by Brady's cry, the others seized their rifles as they followed his wide-eyed frozen gaze, nor was there one of them that was not moved by some species of terror or awe. Then Brady spoke again in an almost inaudible voice, Holy Mother Protectus, it's a banshee! Bradley, always cool almost to indifference in the face of danger, felt a strange creeping sensation run over his flesh, as slowly, not a hundred feet above them, the thing flapped itself across the sky, its huge round eyes glaring down upon them. And until it disappeared over the tops of the trees of a nearby wood, the five men stood as they paralysed, their eyes never leaving the weird shape, nor never one of them appearing to recall that he grasped a loaded rifle in his hands. With the passing of the thing came the reaction. It sank to the ground and buried his face in his hands. O God, he moaned, tick me away from this awful place! Brady recovered from the first shock, swore loud and luridly. He called upon all the saints to witness that he was unafraid, and that anybody with half an eye could have seen that the creature was nothing more than one of them flying alligators that they all were familiar with. Yes, said Sinclair with fine sarcasm, we've saw so many of them with white shrouds on them. Shut up, you fool, growled Brady. If you know so much, tell us what it was after Beane then. Then he turned toward Bradley. What was it saw? Do you think? He asked. Bradley shook his head. I don't know, he said. It looked like a winged human being clothed in a flowing white robe. Its face was more human than otherwise. That is the way it looked to me. But what it really was I can't even guess. For such a creature is as far beyond my experience or knowledge as it is beyond yours. All that I am sure of is that whatever else it may have been. It was quite material. It was no ghost, rather just another of the strange forms of life which we have met here and with which we should be accustomed by this time. Tippet looked up. His face was still ashy. You can't tell me, he cried. High-seen-hit, blimey, high-seen-hit. It was her dead man flying through the hair. Didn't I see his eyes? Oh, God, didn't I see him? It didn't look like any beast or reptile to me, spoke up Sinclair. It was looking right down at me when I looked up and I saw its face plain as I see yours. It had big round eyes that looked all cold and dead and its cheeks were sunken in deep. And I could see its yellow teeth behind thin, tight-drawn lips like a man who had been dead a long while so, he added, turning toward Bradley. Yes, James had not spoken since the apparition had passed over them and now it was scarce speech which he uttered, rather a series of articulate gasps. Yes, dead, a long while. It means something. It came for some one, for one of us. One of us is going to die. I'm going to die, he ended in a wail. Come, come, snapped Bradley. Won't do, won't do at all. Get to work, all of you. Waste of time, can't waste time. His authoritative tones brought them all upstanding and presently each was occupied with his own duties. But each worked in silence and there was no singing and no bantering such as had marked the making of previous camps, not until they had eaten and to each had been issued the little ration of smoking tobacco allowed after each evening meal did any sign of relaxation of taught nerves appear. It was Brady who showed the first signs of returning good spirits. He commenced humming. It's a long way to tipperary and presently to voice the words but he was well into his third song before anyone joined him and even then they seemed a dismal note in even the gayest of tunes. A huge fire blazed in the opening of their rocky shelter that the prowling carnivora might be kept at bay and always one man's durangard watchfully alert against a sudden rush by some maddened beast of the jungle. Beyond the fire yellow green spots of flame appeared, moved restlessly about, disappeared and reappeared, accompanied by a hideous chorus of screams and growls and roars as the hungry man-eaters hunting through the night were attracted by the light or the scent of possible prey. But to such sights and sounds as these the five men had become callous. They sang or talked as unconcernedly as they might have done in the bar room of some public house at home. Sinclair was standing guard. The others were listening to Brady's description of traffic congestion at the Rush Street bridge during the rush hour at night. The fire crackled cheerily. The owners of the yellow green eyes raised their frightful chorus to the heavens. Conditions seemed again to have returned to normal and then as though the hand of death had reached out and touched them all the five men tensed into sudden rigidity. Above the nocturnal diapason of the teeming jungle sounded a dismal flapping of wings and overhead through the thick night a shadowy form passed across the diffused light of the flaring campfire. Sinclair raised his rifle and fired. An eerie wail floated down from above and the apparition whatever it might have been was swallowed by the darkness. For several seconds the listening men heard the sound of those dismally flapping wings lessening in the distance until they could no longer be heard. Bradley was the first to speak. Shouldn't have fired, Sinclair, he said. Can't waste ammunition. But there was no note of censure in his tone. It was as though he understood the nervous reaction that had compelled the others to act. I couldn't help it, sir, said Sinclair. Lord, it would take an iron man to keep from shooting at that awful thing. Do you believe in ghosts, sir? No, replied Bradley. No such things. I don't know about that, said Brady. There was a woman murdered over on the prairie near Brighton. Her throat was cut from ear to ear and shut up, snapped Bradley. My granddaddy used to live down Coppington, we said, tippet. They were a hold-ruined castle on an eel nearby. Hand at midnight they used to see pale blue lights through the windows and ear where you close your hatch, demanded Bradley. You fools will have yourself scared to death in a minute. Now go to sleep. But there was little sleep in camp that night until utter exhaustion overtook the harassed men toward morning. Nor was there any return of the weird creature that had set the nerves of each of them on edge. The following forenoon the party reached the base of the barrier cliffs and for two days marched northward in an effort to discover a break in the frowning abutment that raised its rocky face almost perpendicularly above them. Yet nowhere was there the slightest indication that the cliffs were scalable. Disheartened, Bradley determined to turn back toward the fort, as he already had exceeded the time decided upon by Bowen, Tyler and himself for the expedition. The cliffs for many miles had been trending in a northeasterly direction, indicating to Bradley that they were approaching the northern extremity of the island. According to the best of his calculations, they had made sufficient esting during the past two days to have brought them to a point almost directly north of Fort Dinosaur. And as nothing could be gained by retracing their steps along the base of the cliffs, he decided to strike due south through the unexplored country between them and the fort. That night, September 9, 1916, they made camp a short distance from the cliffs beside one of the numerous cool springs that are to be found within Casback, oftentimes close beside the still more numerous warm and hot springs which feed the many pools. After supper, the men lay smoking and chatting among themselves. Tipit was on guard. Few were night prowlers threatened them and the men were commenting upon the fact that the farther north they had travelled, the smaller the number of all species of animals became. Though it was still present in what would have seemed appalling plentitude in any other part of the world. The diminution in reptilian life was the most noticeable change in the fauna of northern Casback. Here, however, were forms they had not met elsewhere, several of which were of gigantic proportions. According to their custom all, with the exception of the man on guard, sought sleep early, nor once disposed upon the ground for slumber, were they long in finding it. It seemed to Bradley that he had scarcely closed his eyes when he was brought to his feet wide awake by a piercing scream which was punctuated by the sharp report of a rifle from the direction of the fire where Tippett stood guard. As he ran toward the man, Bradley heard above him the same uncanny wail that had set every nerve on edge several nights before and the dismal flapping of huge wings. He did not need to look up at the white shrouded figure winging slowly away into the night to know that their grim visitor had returned. The muscles of his arm reacting to the sight and sound of the menacing form carried his hand to the butt of his pistol. But after he had drawn the weapon he immediately returned it to its holster with a shrug. What for, he muttered, can't waste ammunition. Then he walked quickly to where Tippett lay sprawled upon his face. By this time James, Brady and Sinclair were at his heels, each with his rifle in readiness. Is he dead, sir? whispered James as Bradley kneeled beside the prostrate form. Bradley turned Tippett over on his back and pressed an ear close to the other's heart. In a moment he raised his head. Fainted, he announced, get water, hurry. Then he loosened Tippett's shirt at the throat and when the water was brought threw a cup full in the man's face. Slowly Tippett regained consciousness and sat up. At first he looked curiously into the faces of the men about him. Then an expression of terror overspread his features. His shot a startled glance up into the black void above and then burying his face in his arms began to sob like a child. What's wrong, man? demanded Bradley. Buck up, can't play cry, baby. Waste of energy. What happened? What happened, sir? Well, Tippett, oh, gawd, sir. He came back. He came for me right. Right, he did, sir. Straight at me, sir. Hand with long white hands, it clawed for me. Oh, gawd, he almost caught me, sir. I'm as good as dead. I'm a marked man. That's what I am. It was a go-and-forth to carry me, whore, sir. Stuff and nonsense snapped Bradley. Did you get a good look at it? Tippett said that he did. A much better look than he wanted. The thing had almost clutched him and he had looked straight into his eyes. Dead eyes in a dead face, he had described them. What was it after being? Do you think, inquired Bradley? It was death, moaned Tippett, shuddering, and again a pawl of gloom fell upon the little party. The following day Tippett walked as one in a trance. He never spoke, except in reply to a direct question, which more often than not had to be repeated before it could attract his attention. He insisted that he was already a dead man, for if the thing didn't come for him during the day, he would never live through another night of agonised apprehension, waiting for the frightful end that he was positive was in store for him. I'll see to that, he said, and they all knew that Tippett meant to take his own life before darkness set in. Bradley tried to reason with him in his short, crisp way, but soon saw the futility of it, nor could he take the man's weapons from him without subjecting him to almost certain death from any of the numberless dangers that beset their way. The entire party was moody and glum. There was none of the bantering that had marked their intercourse before, even in the face of blighting hardships and hideous danger. This was a new menace that threatened them, something that they couldn't explain. And so naturally it aroused within them superstitious fear which Tippett's attitude only tended to augment. To add further to their gloom, their way led through a dense forest, where on account of the underbrush, it was difficult to make even a mile an hour. Constant watchfulness was required to avoid the many snakes of various degrees of repulsiveness and enormity that infested the wood. The only ray of hope they had to cling to was that the forest wood, like the majority of the Caspacean forests, proved to be of no considerable extent. Bradley was in the lead when he came suddenly upon a grotesque creature of titanic proportions, crouching among the trees, which here commenced to thin out slightly. Bradley saw what appeared to be an enormous dragon devouring the carcass of a mammoth. From frightful jaws to the tip of its long tail, it was fully 40 feet in length. Its body was covered with plates of thick skin which bore a striking resemblance to armor plate. The creature saw Bradley almost at the same instant that he saw it and reared up on its enormous hind legs until its head towered a full 25 feet above the ground. From the cavernous jaws issued a hissing sound of a volume equal to the escaping steam from the safety valves of a half dozen locomotives. And then the creature came for the man. Scatter shouted Bradley to those behind him and all but tippet heeded the warning. The man stood as though dazed and when Bradley saw the others' danger he too stopped and wheeling about sent a bullet into the massive body forcing its way through the trees towards him. The shot struck the creature in the belly where there was no protecting armor eliciting a new note which rose in a shrill whistle and ended in a wail. It was then that tippet appeared to come out of his trance for with a cry of terror he turned and fled to the left. Bradley seeing that he had as good an opportunity as the others to escape now turned his attention to extricating himself and as the wood seemed dense on the right he ran in that direction hoping that the close set bowls would prevent pursuit on the part of the great reptile. The dragon paid no further attention to him. However for tippet's sudden break for liberty had attracted his attention. And after tippet it went bowling over small trees uprooting underbrush and leaving a wake behind it like that of a small tornado. Bradley the moment he had discovered the thing was pursuing tippet had followed it. He was afraid to fire for fear of hitting the man and so it was that he came upon them at the very moment that the monster lunged its great weight forward upon the doomed man. The sharp three-toed talons of the four limbs seized poor tippet and Bradley saw the unfortunate fellow lifted high above the ground as the creature again reared up on its hind legs immediately transferring tippet's body to its gaping jaws which closed with a sickening crunching sound as tippet's bones cracked beneath the great teeth. Bradley half raised his rifle to fire again and then lowered it with a shake of his head. Tippet was beyond suker. Why waste a bullet that Caspac could never replace? If he could now escape the further notice of the monster it would be a wiser act than to throw his life away in futile revenge. He saw that the reptile was not looking in his direction and so he slipped noiselessly behind the bowl of a large tree and thence quietly faded away in the direction he believed the others to have taken. At what he considered a safe distance he halted and looked back. Half hidden by the intervening trees he still could see the huge head and the massive jaws from which protrude the limp legs of the dead man. Then as they struck by the hammer of Thor the creature collapsed and crumpled to the ground. Bradley's single bullet penetrating the body through the soft skin of the belly had slain the titan. A few minutes later Bradley found the others of the party. The four returned cautiously to the spot where the creature lay and after convincing themselves that it was quite dead came close to it. It was an arduous and gruesome job extricating Tippet's mangled remains from the power for jaws. The men working for the most part silently. It was the work of the banshee all right muttered Brady. It warned poor Tippet it did. It killed him that's what it did. Hand it'll kill more of us said James his lower lip trembling. If it was a ghost interjected Sinclair and I don't say as it was but if it was why it could take on any form it wanted to. It might have turned itself into this thing which ain't no natural thing at all. Just to get poor Tippet. If it had have been a lion or something else human like it wouldn't look so strange. But this here thing ain't human like. There ain't no such thing and never was. Bullets don't kill ghosts said Bradley so this couldn't have been a ghost. Furthermore there are no such things. I've been trying to place this creature just succeeded. It's a Tyrannosaurus. Saw picture of Skeleton in magazine. There's one in New York Natural History Museum. Seems to me it said it was found in place called Hell Creek somewhere in Western North America. Supposed to have lived about six million years ago. Hell Creek's in Montana said Sinclair. I used to punch cows in Wyoming and I've heard of Hell Creek. Do you suppose that there's things six million years old? His tone was skeptical. No replied Bradley but it would indicate that the island of Caprona has stored almost without change for more than six million years. The conversation and Bradley's assurance that the creature was not of supernatural origin helped to raise a trifle the spirits of the men and then came another diversion in the form of ravenous meat eaters attracted to the spot by the uncanny sense of smell which had apprised them off the presence of flesh killed and ready for the eating. It was a constant battle while they dug a grave and consigned all that was mortal of John Tippett to his last lonely resting place. Nor would they leave then but remained to fashion a rude headstone from a crumbling outcropping of sandstone and to gather a mass of the gorgeous flowers growing in such great profusion around them and heap the new made grave with bright blooms. Upon the headstone Sinclair scratched in rude characters the words, here lies John Tippett, Englishman, killed by Tyrannosaurus, 10 sept A.D., 1916, R.I.P. and Bradley repeated a short prayer before they left their comrade forever. For three days the party marched due south through forests and meadowland and great park-like areas where countless herbivorous animals grazed, deer and antelope and boss and the little eca, the smaller species of Caspacian horse about the size of a rabbit. There were other horses too but all were small, the largest being not above eight hands in height. Praying continually upon the herbivora were the meat-eaters, large and small, wolves, hyenadons, panthers, lions, tigers and bear, as well as several large and ferocious species of reptilian life. On September 12th the parties scaled a line of sandstone cliffs which crossed their route toward the south but they crossed them only after an encounter with the tribe that inhabited the numerous caves which pitted the face of the enscarpment. That night they came upon a rocky plateau which was sparsely wooded with jarra and here once again they were visited by the weird nocturnal apparition that had already filled them with a nameless terror. As on the night of September 9th the first warning came from the sentinel standing guard over his sleeping companions. A terror-stricken cry punctuated by the crack of a rifle brought Bradley, Sinclair and Brady to their feet in time to see James with clubbed rifle battling with a white-robed figure that hovered on widespread wings on a level with the Englishman's head. As they ran shouting forward it was obvious to them that the weird and terrible apparition was attempting to seize James but when it saw the others coming to his rescue it desisted, flapping rapidly upward and away. Its long ragged wings giving forth the peculiarly dismal notes which always characterised the sound of its flying. Bradley fired at the vanishing menace of their peace and safety but whether he scored a hit or not, none could tell though following the shot there was wafted back to them the same piercing wail that had on other occasions frozen their marrow. Then they turned toward James to lay face downward upon the ground, trembling as with egg. For a time he could not even speak but at last regained sufficient composure to tell them how the thing must have swooped silently upon him from above and behind. As the first premonition of danger he had received was when the long claw-like fingers had clutched him beneath their arm. In the melly his rifle had been discharged and he had broken away at the same instant and turned to defend himself with the butt, the rest they had seen. From that instant James was an absolutely broken man. He maintained with shaking lips that his doom was sealed, that the thing had marked him for its own and that he was as good as dead. Nor could any amount of argument or railery convince him to the contrary. He had seen tippet marked and claimed and now he had been marked. Nor were his constant reiterations of disbelief without effect upon the rest of the party. Even Bradley felt depressed. Though for the sake of the others he managed to hide it beneath a show of confidence he was far from feeling. And on the following day William James was killed by a sabertooth tiger. September 13, 1916. Beneath a jarritory on the Stony Plateau on the northern edge of the Stou Lou country in the land that time forgot he lies on a lonely grave marked by a rough headstone. Southward from his grave marched three grim and silent men. To the best of Bradley's reckoning they were some 25 miles north of Fort Dinosaur and that they might reach the fort on the following day. They plotted on until darkness overtook them. With comparative safety 15 miles away they made camp at last. But there was no singing now and no joking. In the bottom of his heart each prayed that they might come safely through just this night for they knew that during the morrow they would make the final stretch yet the nerves of each were taught with strained anticipation of what gruesome thing might flap down upon them from the black sky marking another for its own. Who would be next? As was their custom they took turns at guard each man doing two hours and then arousing the next. Brady had gone on from eight to ten followed by Sinclair from ten to twelve. Then Bradley had been awakened. Brady would stand the last guard from two to four as they had determined to start the moment that it became light enough to ensure comparative safety upon the trail. The snapping of a twig aroused Brady out of a dead sleep and as he opened his eyes he saw that it was broad daylight and that at twenty paces from him stood a huge lion. As the man sprang to his feet his rifle ready in his hand Sinclair awoke and took in the scene in a single swift glance. The fire was out and Bradley was nowhere in sight. For a long moment the lion and the men eyed one another. The latter had no mind to fire if the beast minded its own affairs. They were only too glad to let it go its way if it would but the lion was of a different mind. Suddenly the long tail snapped stiffly erect and as though it had been attached to two trigger fingers the two rifles spoke in unison. For both men knew this signal only too well. The immediate forerunner of a deadly charge. As the brute's head had been raised his spine had not been visible and so they did what they had learned by long experience was best to do. Each covered a front leg and as the tail snapped aloft fired. With a hideous roar the mighty flesh eater lurched forward to the ground with both front legs broken. It was an easy accomplishment in the instant before the beast charged. After it would have been well nigh an impossible feat. Brady stepped close in and finished him with a shot in the base of the brain lest his terrific roarings should attract his mate or others of their kind. Then the two men turned and looked at one another. Where is Lieutenant Bradley? asked Sinclair. They walked to the fire only a few smoking embers remained. A few feet away lay Bradley's rifle. There was no evidence of a struggle. The two men circled about the camp twice and on the last lap Brady stooped and picked up an object which had laying about ten yards beyond the fire. It was Bradley's cap. Again the two looked questioningly at one another and then simultaneously both pairs of eyes swung upward and searched the sky. A moment later Brady was examining the ground about the spot where Bradley's cap had lain. It was one of those little barren sandy stretches that they had found only upon this stony plateau. Bradley's own footsteps showed as plainly as black ink upon white paper but his was the only foot that had marred the smooth windswept surface. There was no sign that Bradley had crossed the spot upon the surface of the ground and yet his cap lay well toward the centre of it. Breakfastless and with shaken nerves the two survivors plunged madly into the long day's march. Both were strong, courageous resourceful men but each had reached the limit of human nerve endurance and each felt that he would rather die than spend another night in the hideous open of that frightful land. Vivid in the mind of each was a picture of Bradley's end for though neither had witnessed the tragedy both could imagine almost precisely what had occurred. They did not discuss it they did not even mention it yet all day long the thing was uppermost in the mind of each and mingled with it a similar picture with himself as victim should they fail to make foot dinosaur before dark and so they plunged forward at reckless speed their clothes, their hands, their faces torn by the retarding underbrush that reached forth to hinder them. Again and again they fell but be it to their credit that the one always waited and helped the other and that into the mind of neither entered the thought or the temptation to desert his companion they would reach the fort together if both survived or neither would reach it. They encountered the usual number of savage beasts and reptiles but they met them with a courageous recklessness born of desperation and by virtue of the very madness of the chances they took they came through unscathed and with the minimum of delay. Shortly afternoon they reached the end of the plateau before them was a drop of two hundred feet to the valley beneath to the left in the distance they could see the waters of the great inland sea that covers a considerable portion of the area of the crater island of Caprona and at a little lesser distance to the south of the cliffs they saw a thin spiral of smoke arising above the treetops. The landscape was familiar each recognized it immediately and knew that the smoky column marked a spot where dinosaur had stood. Was the fort still there? Or did the smoke arise from the smouldering embers of the building they had helped to fashion for the housing of their party? Who could say? Thirty precious minutes that seemed as many hours to the impatient men were consumed in locating a precarious way from the summit to the base of the cliffs that abounded the plateau upon the south and then once again they struck off upon level ground toward their goal. The closer they approached the fort the greater became the apprehension that all would not be well. They pictured the barracks deserted or the small company massacred and the buildings in ashes. It was almost in a frenzy of fear that they broke through the final fringe of jungle that stood at last upon the verge of the open meadow a half mile from Fort Dinosaur. Lord ejaculated Sinclair they are still there and he fell to his knees sobbing. Brady trembled like a leaf as he crossed himself and gave silent thanks for there before them stood the sturdy ramparts of Dinosaur and from inside the enclosure rose a thin spiral of smoke that marked the location of the cookhouse. All was well then and their comrades were preparing the evening meal. Across the clearing they raced as though they had not already covered in a single day a trackless, primeval country that might easily have required two days by fresh and untired men. Within hailing distance they set up such a loud shouting that presently heads appeared above the top of the parapet and soon answering shouts were rising from within Fort Dinosaur. A moment later three men issued from the enclosure and came forward to meet the survivors and listened to the hurried story of the 11 eventful days which they had set out upon their expedition to the barrier cliffs. They heard of the deaths of Tippett and James and of the disappearance of Lieutenant Bradley and a new terror settled upon Dinosaur. Olson, the Irish engineer with Whiteley and Wilson constituted the remnants of Dinosaur's defenders and to Brady and Sinclair they narrated the salient events that had transpired since Bradley and his party had marched away on September 4th. They told them of the infamous act of Baron Friedrich von Schuwenvortz and his German crew who had stolen the U-33 breaking their parole and steaming away toward the subterranean opening through the barrier cliffs that carried the waters of the inland sea into the open Pacific beyond and of the cowardly shelling of the fort. They told of the disappearance of Miss LaRue in the night of September 11 and of the departure of Bowen Tyler in search of her, accompanied only by his Airdale knobs. Thus of the original party of 11 allies and nine Germans that had constituted the company of the U-33 when she left English waters after her capture by the crew of the English tug, there were about five now to be accounted for at Fort Dinosaur. Benson, Tippett, James and one of the Germans were known to be dead. It was assumed that Bradley, Tyler and the girl had already succumbed to some of the savage denizens of Caspack while the fate of the Germans was equally unknown, though it might readily be believed that they had made good their escape. They had had ample time to provision the ship and the refining of the crude oil they had discovered north of the fort could have ensured them an ample supply to carry them back to Germany. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Out of Times Abyss This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Lucy LaFaro. Out of Times Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Chapter 2 When Bradley went on guard at midnight, September 14th, his thoughts were largely occupied with rejoicing that the night was almost spent without serious mishap and that the Murrow would doubtless see them all safely returned to Fort Dinosaur. The hopefulness of his mood was tinged with sorrow by recollection of the two members of his party who lay back there in the savage wilderness and for whom there would never again be a homecoming. No premonition of impending ill cast gloom over his anticipations for the coming day. For Bradley was a man who, while taking every precaution against possible danger, permitted no gloomy forebodings to weigh down his spirit. When danger threatened, he was prepared, but he was not forever caught in disaster. And so it was that when about one o'clock in the morning of the fifteenth, he heard the dismal flapping of giant wings overhead. He was neither surprised nor frightened, but idly prepared for an attack he had known might reasonably be expected. The sound seemed to come from the south, and presently, low above the trees in that direction, the man made out a dim, shadowy form circling slowly about. Bradley was a brave man, yet so keen was the feeling of revulsion engendered by the sight and sound of that grim uncanny shape that he distinctly felt the goose-flesh rise over the surface of his body. And it was with difficulty that he refrained from following an instinctive urge to fire upon the nocturnal intruder. Better, far better, would it have been. Had he given in to the insistent demand of his subconscious mentor. But his almost fanatical obsession to save ammunition proved now his undoing, for while his attention was riveted upon the thing circling before him, and while his ears were filled with the beating of its wings, there swooped silently out of the black night behind him another weird and ghostly shape. With its huge wings partly closed for the dive and its white robe fluttering in its wake, the apparition swooped down upon the Englishman. So great was the force of the impact when the thing struck Bradley between the shoulders that the man was half-stunned. His rifle flew from his grasp. He felt talons of great strength seize him beneath his arms and sweep him off his feet. And then the thing rose swiftly with him, so swiftly that his cap was blown from his head by the rush of air as he was born rapidly upward into the inky sky. And the cry of warning to his companions was forced back into his lungs. The creature wheeled immediately toward the east and was at once joined by its fellow who circled them once and then fell in behind them. Bradley now realized the strategy that the pair had used to capture him and at once concluded that he was in the power of reasoning beings closely related to the human race, if not actually of it. Past experience suggested that the great wings were a part of some ingenious mechanical device for the limitations of the human mind, which is always loath to accept ought beyond its own little experience, would not permit him to entertain the idea that the creatures might be naturally winged and at the same time of human origin. From his position, Bradley could not see the wings of his captor, nor in the darkness had he been able to examine those of the second creature closely when it circled before him. He listened for the puff of a motor or some other telltale sound that would prove the correctness of his theory. However, he was rewarded with nothing more than the constant flap flap. Presently, far below and ahead, he saw the waters of the inland sea and a moment later he was born over them. Then his captor did that which proved beyond doubt to Bradley that he was in the hands of human beings who had devised an almost perfect scheme of duplicating mechanically the wings of a bird. The thing spoke to its companion and in a language that Bradley partially understood since he recognized words that he had learned from the savage races of Caspack. From this he judged that they were human and, being human, he knew that they could have no natural wings for who had ever seen a human being so adorned. Therefore their wings must be mechanical. Thus Bradley reasoned, thus most of us reasoned, not by what might be possible, but by what has fallen within the range of our experience. What he heard them say was to the effect that having covered half the distance the burden would now be transferred from one to the other. Bradley wondered how the exchange was to be accomplished. He knew that those giant wings would not permit the creatures to approach one another closely enough to effect a transfer in this manner, but he was soon to discover that they had other means of doing it. He felt the thing that carried him rise to a greater altitude and below he glimpsed momentarily the second white-robed figure. Then the creature above sounded a low call. It was answered from below and instantly Bradley felt the clutching talons release him. Gasping for breath, he hurtled downward through space. For a terrifying instant, pregnant with horror, Bradley fell. Then something swept for him from behind. Another pair of talons clutched him beneath the arms. His downward rush was checked. Within another hundred feet and close to the surface of the sea, he was again born upward. As a hawk dives for a songbird, on the wing so this great human bird dived for Bradley. It was a harrowing experience, but soon over. And once again the captive was being carried swiftly toward the east and what fate he could not even guess. It was immediately following his transfer in mid-air that Bradley made out the shadowy form of a large island far ahead. And not long after, he realised that this must be the intended destination of his captors. Nor was he mistaken. Three quarters of an hour from the time of his seizure, his captors dropped gently to earth in the strangest city that human eye had ever rested upon. Just a brief glimpse of his immediate surroundings, vouchsafe Bradley before he was whisked into the interior of one of the buildings. But in that momentary glance, he saw strange piles of stone and wood and mud, fashioned into buildings of all conceivable sizes and shapes. Some piled high on top of one another, sometimes standing alone in an open court way, but usually crowded and jammed together so that there were no streets or alleys between them other than a few which ended almost as soon as they began. The principal doorways appeared to be in the roofs and it was through one of these that Bradley was inducted into the dark interior of a low-ceiling room. Here he was pushed roughly into a corner where he tripped over a thick mat. And there his captors left him. He heard them moving about in the darkness for a moment and several times he saw their large, luminous eyes glowing in the dark. Finally, these disappeared and silence reigned. They were broken only by the breathing of the creature, which indicated to the Englishman that they were sleeping somewhere in the same apartment. It was now evident that the mat upon the floor was intended for sleeping purposes and that the rough shove that had sent him to it had been a rude invitation to repose. After taking stock of himself and finding that he still had his pistol and ammunition, some matches, a little tobacco, a canteen full of water and a razor, Bradley made himself comfortable upon the mat and was soon asleep, knowing that an attempt at escaping the darkness without knowledge of his surroundings would be pre-doomed to failure. When he awoke, it was broad daylight and the sight that met his eyes made him rub them again and again to assure himself that they were really open and that he was not dreaming. A broad shaft of morning light poured through the open doorway in the ceiling of the room, which was about 30 feet square or roughly square, being irregular in shape, one side curving outward, another being intended by what might have been the corner of another building jutting into it, another alcoved by three sides of an octagon, while the fourth was serpentine in contour. Two windows letting more daylight, while two doors evidently gave ingress to other rooms. The walls were partially sealed with thin strips of wood, nicely fitted and finished, partially plastered and the rest covered with a fine woven cloth. Figures of reptiles and beasts were painted without regard to any uniform scheme here and there upon the walls. A striking feature of the decorations consisted of several engaged columns set into the walls at no regular intervals, the capitals of each supporting a human skull, the cranium of which touched the ceiling, as though the latter were supported by these grim reminders, either of departed relatives or of some Ahidia's tribal rite. Bradley could not but wonder which. Yet it was none of these things that filled him with greatest wonder. No, it was the figures of the two creatures that had captured him and brought him hither. At one end of the room, a stout pole about two inches in diameter ran horizontally from wall to wall, some six or seven feet from the floor. Its ends securely set in two of the columns. Hanging by their knees from this perch, their heads downward and their bodies wrapped in their huge wings slept the creatures of the night before, like two great horrid bats they hung asleep. As Bradley gazed upon them in wide-eyed astonishment, he saw plainly that all his intelligence, all his acquired knowledge through years of observation and experience, were set at naught by the simple evidence of the fact that stood out glaringly before his eyes. The creature's wings were not mechanical devices, but as natural appendages growing from their shoulder blades as were their arms and legs. He saw two that except for their wings, the pair bore a strong resemblance to human beings, though fashioned in our most grotesque mould. As he sat gazing at them, one of the two awoke, separated his wings to release his arms that had been folded across his breast, placed his hands upon the floor, dropped his feet and stood erect. For a moment he stretched his great wings slowly, solemnly blinking his large round eyes. Then his gaze fell upon Bradley. The thin lips drew back tightly against yellow teeth in a grimace that was nothing but hideous. It could not have been termed a smile, and what emotion it registered, the Englishman was at a loss to guess. No expression whatever altered the steady gaze of those large round eyes. There was no colour upon the pasty sunken cheeks. A death's head grimaced as though a man long dead raised his parchment-covered skull from an old grave. The creature stood about the height of an average man, but appeared much taller from the fact that the joints of his long wings rose fully afoot above his hairless head. Bare arms were long and sinewy, ending in strong bony hands with claw-like fingers, almost talon-like in their suggestiveness. The white robe was separated in front, revealing skinny legs and the further fact that the thing wore but the single garment, which was a fine woven cloth. From crown to sole, the portions of the body exposed were entirely hairless and as he noted this, Bradley also noted for the first time the cause of much of the seeming expressionlessness of the creature's countenance. It had neither eyebrows or lashes. The ears were small and rested flat against the skull, which was noticeably round, though the face was quite flat. The creature had small feet, beautifully arched and plump, but so out of keeping with every other physical attribute it possessed as to appear ridiculous. After eyeing Bradley for a moment, the thing approached him. Where from? It asked. England replied Bradley as briefly. Where is England and what? Pursued the questioner. It is a country far from here, answered the Englishman. Are your people cause Vajau or cause Attaloo? I do not understand you said Bradley and now suppose you answer a few questions. Who are you? What country is this? Why did you bring me here? Again the sepulchral grimace. We are weirous. Luata is our father. Taspac is ours. This our country is called Uol. We brought you here for him who speaks, for Luata to gaze upon and question. He would know from whence you came and why, but principally if you be cause Attaloo. And if I am not cause whatever you called the bloomin' beast, what of it? The weiru raised his wings in a very human shrug and waved his bony claws toward the human skulls supporting the ceiling. His gesture was eloquent, but he embellished it by remarking, and possibly if you are. I'm hungry, snapped Bradley. The weiru motioned him to one of the doors which he threw open, permitting Bradley to pass out on to another roof on a level lower than that upon which they had landed earlier in the morning. By daylight the city appeared even more remarkable than in the moonlight, though less weird and unreal. The houses of all shapes and sizes were piled about as a child might pile blocks of various forms and colors. He saw now that there were what might be called streets or alleys, but they ran in baffling turns and twists, nor ever reached a destination, always ending in a dead wall where some weiru had built a house across them. Upon each house was a slender column supporting a human skull. Sometimes the columns were at one corner of the roof, sometimes at another, or again they rose from the center or near the center, and the columns were of varying heights, from that of a man to those which rose 20 feet above their roofs. The skulls were, as a rule, painted blue or white, or in combinations of both colors. The most effective were painted blue with the teeth white and the eye sockets rimmed with white. There were other skulls, thousands of them, tens, hundreds of thousands. They rimmed the eaves of every house. They were set in the plaster of the outer walls, and at no great distance from where Bradley stood rose a round tower built entirely of human skulls. And the city extended in every direction as far as the Englishman could see. All about him were roofs were moving across the roofs or winging through the air. The sad sound of their flapping wings rose and fell like a solemn dirge. Most of them were appalled all in white, like his captors, but others had markings of red or blue or yellow slashed across the front of their robes. His guide pointed toward a doorway in an alley below them. Go there and eat, he commanded, and then come back. You cannot escape. If any question you, say that you belong to Foshbalsot. There is the way. And this time he pointed to the top of a ladder which protruded above the eaves of the roof nearby. Then he turned and re-entered the house. Bradley looked about him. No, he could not escape. That seemed evident. The city appeared interminable, and beyond the city, if not a savage wilderness filled with wild beasts, there was the broad inland sea infested with horrid monsters. No wonder his captor felt safe in turning him loose in Uo. He wondered if that was the name of the country or the city, and if there were other cities like this upon the island. Slowly he descended the ladder to the seemingly deserted alley, which was paved with what appeared to be large round cobblestones. He looked again at the smooth-worn pavement, and a roofful grin crossed his features. The alley was paved with skulls. The city of human skulls, mused Bradley, they must have been collectin'em since Adam, he thought, and then he crossed and entered the building through the doorway that had been pointed out to him. Inside he found a large room in which were many wirus seated before pedestals, the tops of which were hollowed out so that they resembled the ordinary bird drinking and bathing fonts, so commonly seen on suburban lawns. A seat protruded from each of the four sides of the pedestals, just a flat board with a support running from its outer end diagonally to the base of the pedestal. As Bradley entered, some of the wirus aspired him, and a dismal wail arose, whether it was a greeting or a threat. Bradley did not know. Suddenly from a dark alcove, another wiru rushed out toward him. "'Who are you?' he cried. "'What do you want?' Foch-Balsos sent me here to eat,' replied Bradley. "'Do you belong to Foch-Balsos?' asked the other. "'That appears to be what he thinks,' answered the Englishman. "'Are you Kosatalu?' demanded the wiru. "'Give me something to eat, or I'll be all of that,' replied Bradley. The wiru looked puzzled. "'Sit here, Jalu,' he snapped, and Bradley sat down unconscious of the fact that he had been insulted by being called a hyena man, an appellation of contempt in Kaspak. The wiru had seated him at a pedestal by himself, and as he sat waiting for what was next to transpire he looked about him at the wiru in his immediate vicinity. He saw that in each font was a quantity of food, and that each wiru was armed with a wooden skewer sharpened at one end, with which they carried solid portions of food to their mouths. At the other end of the skewer was fastened a small clamshell. This was used to scoop up the smaller and softer portions of the repast into which all four of the occupants of each table dipped impartially. The wiru leaned far over their food, scooping it up rapidly and with much noise, and so great was their haste that a part of each mouthful always fell back into the common dish. And when they choked, by reason of the rapidity with which they attempted to bold their food, they often lost it all. Bradley was glad that he had a pedestal all to himself. Soon the keeper of the place returned with a wooden bowl filled with food. This he dumped into Bradley's trough, as he already thought of it. The Englishman was glad that he could not see into the dark alcove, or know what were all the ingredients that constituted the mess before him, for he was very hungry. After the first mouthful, he cared even less to investigate the antecedents of the dish, for he found it peculiarly palatable. It seemed to consist of a combination of meat, fruits, vegetables, small fish, and other undistinguishable articles of food, or seasoned to produce a gastronomic effect that was at once baffling and delicious. When he had finished, his trough was empty, and then he commenced to wonder who was to settle for his meal. As he waited for the proprietor to return, he fell to examining the dish from which he had eaten, and the pedestal upon which it rested. The font was of stone, worn smooth by long continued use. The four outer edges hollowed and polished by the contact of the countless weary bodies that had leaned against them for how long a period of time Bradley could not even guess. Everything about the place carried the impression of hoary age. The carved pedestals were black with use. The wooden seats were worn hollow. The floristone slabs was polished by the contact of possibly millions of naked feet and worn away in the aisles between the pedestals so that the latter rested upon little mounds of stone several inches above the general level of the floor. Finally, seeing that no one came to collect, Bradley arose and started for the doorway. He had covered half the distance when he heard the voice of mine-hosts calling to him. Come back, Jaloo! screamed the Wiru! and Bradley did as he was bid. As he approached the creature which stood now behind a large, flat-topped pedestal beside the alcove, he saw lying upon the smooth surface something that almost elicited a gasp of astonishment from him. A simple common thing it was, or would have been almost anywhere in the world but caspac, a square bit of paper. And on it, in a fine hand, written compactly were many strange hieroglyphics. These remarkable creatures then had a written as well as a spoken language, and besides the art of weaving cloth, possessed that of papermaking. Could it be that such grotesque beings represented the high culture of the human race within the boundaries of caspac? Had natural selection produced during the countless ages of caspacian life a winged monstrosity that represented the earthly pinnacle of man's evolution? Bradley had noted something of the obvious indications of a gradual evolution from ape to spearman as exemplified by the several overlapping races of allelous, clubmen and hatchetmen that formed the connecting links between the two extremes with which he had come in contact. He had heard of the crolus and the gallus reputed to be still higher in the plane of evolution and now he had indisputable evidence of a race possessing refinements of civilisation eons in advance of the spearmen. The conjectures awakened by even a momentary consideration of the possibilities involved became at once as wildly bizarre as the insane imagings of a drug addict. As these thoughts flashed through his mind the wiru held out a pen of bone fixed to a wooden holder and at the same time made a sign that Bradley was to write upon the paper. It was difficult to judge from the expressionless features of the wiru what was passing in the creature's mind but Bradley could not but feel that the thin cast a supercilious glance upon him as much as to say of course you do not know how to write you poor low creature but you can make your mark. Bradley sees the pen and in a clear bold hand wrote John Bradley England. The wiru showed evidences of consternation as it seized the piece of paper and examined the writing with every mark of incredulity and surprise. Of course it could make nothing of the strange characters but it evidently accepted them as proof that Bradley possessed knowledge of a written language of his own for following the Englishman's entry it made a few characters of its own. You will come here again just before Lua hides his face behind the great cliff announced the creature unless before that you are summoned by him who speaks for Luata in which case you will not have to eat any more. He was ensuring Cuss thought Bradley as he turned and left the building outside were several wirus that had been eating at the pedestals within they immediately surrounded him asking all sorts of questions plucking at his garments his ammunition belt and his pistol the demeanor was entirely different from what it had been within the eating place and Bradley was to learn that a house of food was sanctuary for him since the stern laws of the wirus forbade altercations within such walls now they were rough and threatening as with wings half spread they hovered about him in menacing attitudes barring his way to the ladder leading to the roof from hence he had descended but the Englishman was not one to brook interference for long he attempted at first to push his way past them and then when one seized his arm and jerked him roughly back Bradley swung upon the creature and with a heavy blow to the jaw felled it instantly pandemonium rained loud wails arose great wings opened and closed with a loud beating noise and many claw like hands reached forth to clutch him Bradley struck to right and left he dared not use his pistol for fear that once they discovered its power he would be overcome by weight of numbers and relieved of possession of what he considered his trump card to be reserved until the last moment that it might be used to aid in his escape for already the Englishman was planning though almost hopelessly such an attempt a few blows convinced Bradley that the wirus were errant cowards and that they bore no weapons for after two or three had fallen beneath his fists the others formed a circle about him but at a safe distance and contented themselves with threatening and blustering while those whom he had felled lay upon the pavement without trying to arise the while they moaned and wailed in legubrious chorus again Bradley strode toward the ladder and this time the circle parted before him but no sooner had he ascended a few rungs than he was seized by one foot and an effort made to drag him down with a quick backward glance the Englishman clinging firmly to the ladder with both hands drew up his free foot and with all the strength of a powerful leg planted a heavy shoe squarely in the flat face of the wiru that held him shrieking horribly the creature clapped both hands to its face and sank to the ground while Bradley clambered quickly the remaining distance to the roof though no sooner did he reach the top of the ladder than a great flapping of wings beneath him warned him that the wirus were rising after him a moment later they swarmed about his head as he ran for the apartment in which he had spent the early hours of the morning after his arrival it was but a short distance from the top of the ladder to the doorway and Bradley had almost reached his goal when the door flew open and Phosh Baosage stepped out immediately the pursuing wirus demanded punishment of the Jalu who had so grievously maltreated them Phosh Baosage listened to their complaints and then with a sudden sweep of his right hand seized Bradley by the scruff of the neck and hurled him sprawling through the doorway upon the floor of the chamber so sudden was the assault and so surprising the strength of the wiru that the Englishman was taken completely off his guard when he arose the door was closed and Phosh Baosage was standing over him and his hideous face contorted into an expression of rage and hatred how in a snake lizard he screamed you would dare lay your low vile profaning hands upon even the lowliest of the wirus the sacred chosen of Luata Bradley was mad and so he spoke in a very low calm voice while a half smile played across his lips while his cold grey eyes were unsmiling what you did to me just now he said I am going to kill you for that and even as he spoke he launched himself at the throat of Phosh Baosage the other wiru that had been asleep when Bradley left the chamber had departed and the two were alone Phosh Baosage displayed little of the cowardice of those that had attacked Bradley in the alleyway but that may have been because he had so slight opportunity for Bradley had him by the throat before he could utter a cry and with his right hand struck him heavily and repeatedly upon his face and over his heart ugly smashing short armed jabs of the sore that take the fight out of a man in quick time he clawed and struck at Bradley while with his great wings he attempted to shield himself from the merciless rain of blows at the same time searching for a hold upon his antagonist's throat presently he succeeded in tripping the Englishman and together the two fell heavily to the floor Bradley underneath and at the same instant the wiru fastened his long talons about the other's wingpipe Phosh Baosage was possessed of enormous strength and he was fighting for his life the Englishman soon realised that the battle was going against him already his lungs were pounding painfully for air as he reached his pistol it was with difficulty that he drew it from its holster and even then with death staring him in the face he thought of his precious ammunition can't waste it he thought and slipping his fingers to the barrel he raised the weapon and struck Phosh Baosage a terrific blow between the eyes instantly the claw-like fingers released their hold and the creature sank limply to the floor beside Bradley who lay for several minutes gasping painfully in an effort to regain his breath when he was able he rose and leaned close over the wiru lying silent and motionless his wings dropping limply and his great round eyes staring blankly toward the ceiling a brief examination convinced Bradley that the thing was dead and with the conviction came an overwhelming sense of the dangers which must now confront him but how was he to escape his first thought was to find some means of concealing the evidence of his deed and then to make a bold effort to escape stepping to the second door he pushed it gently open and peered in upon what seemed to be a storeroom in it was a litter of cloth such as the wiru's robes were fashioned from a number of chests painted blue and white hieroglyphics painted in bold strokes upon the blue and blue hieroglyphics upon the white in one corner was a pile of human skulls reaching almost to the ceiling and in another a stack of dried wiru wigs the chamber was as irregularly shaped as the other and had but a single window and a second door at the further end but was without the exit through the roof and most important of all there was no creature of any sort in it as quickly as possible Bradley dragged the dead wiru through the doorway and closed the door then he looked about for a place to conceal the corpse one of the chests was large enough to hold the body if the knees were bent well up and with this idea in view Bradley approached the chest to open it the lid was made in two pieces each being hinged at an opposite end of the chest and joining nicely where they met in the centre of the chest making a snug, well fitting joint there was no lock Bradley raised one half of the cover and looked in with a smothered by jove he bent closer to examine the contents the chest was about half filled with an assortment of golden trinkets there were what appeared to be bracelets anklets and brooches of virgin gold realising that there was no room in the chest for the body of the wiru Bradley turned to seek another means of concealing the evidence of his crime there was a space between the chests and the wall and into this he forced the corpse piling the discarded ropes upon it until it was entirely hidden from sight but now how was he to make good his escape in the bright glare of that early spring day he walked to the door at the far end of the apartment and cautiously opened it an inch before him and about two feet away was the blank wall of another building Bradley opened the door a little farther and looked in both directions there was no one in sight to the left over a considerable expanse of rooftop and to the right another building shut off his line of vision at about 20 feet slipping out he turned to the right and in a few steps found a narrow passageway between two buildings turning into this he passed about half its length when he saw a wiru appear at the opposite end and halt the creature was not looking down the passageway but at any moment it might turn its eyes toward him when he would be immediately discovered to Bradley's left was a triangular niche in the wall of one of the houses and into this he lodged thus concealing himself from the sight of the wiru beside him was a door painted a vivid yellow and constructed after the same fashion as the other wiru doors he had seen being made up of countless narrow strips of wood from four to six inches in length laid on in patches of about the same width the strips in adjacent patches never running in the same direction the result bore some resemblance to a crazy patchwork quilt which was heightened when as in one of the doors he had seen contiguous patches were painted different colours the strips appeared to have been bound together and to the underlying framework of the door with gut or fibre and also glued after which a thick coating of paint had been applied one edge of the door was formed of a straight round pole about two inches in diameter that protruded at top and bottom the projections setting in round holes in both lintel and seal forming the axis upon which the door swung an eccentric disc upon the inside face of the door engaged a slot in the frame when it was desired to secure the door against intruders as Bradley stood flattened against the wall waiting for the wiru to move on he heard the creature's wings brushing against the sides of the buildings as it made its way down the narrow passage in his direction as the yellow door offered the only means of escape without detection the Englishman decided to risk whatever might lie beyond it and so boldly pushing it in he crossed the threshold and entered a small apartment as he did so he heard a muffled ejaculation of surprise and turning his eyes in the direction from whence the sound had come he beheld a wide-eyed girl standing flattened against the opposite wall an expression of incredulity upon her face at a glance he saw that she was of no race of humans that he had come in contact with since his arrival upon Caprona there was no trace about her form or features of any relationship to those low orders of men nor was she appalled as they or rather she did not entirely lack apparel as did most of them a soft hide fell from her left shoulder to just below her left hip on one side and almost to her right knee on the other a loose girdle was about her waist and golden ornaments such as he had seen in the blue and white chest and circled her arms and legs and filled her with a triangular diadem bound her heavy hair above her brows her skin was white as from long confinement within doors but it was clear and fine her figure but partially concealed by the soft-deer skin was all curves of symmetry and youthful grace while her features might easily have been the envy of the most fettered of continental beauties if the girl was surprised by the sudden appearance of Bradley the latter was absolutely astounded to discover so wondrous a creature among the hideous inhabitants of the city of human skulls for a moment the two looked at one another in unconcealed consternation and then Bradley spoke using to the best of his poor ability the common tongue of Caspac Who are you? he asked and from where do you come? Do not tell me that you are Wiru No, she replied I am no Wiru and she shuddered slightly as she pronounced the word I am a Galoo but who and what are you? I am sure that you are no Galoo nor garments but you are like the Galoos in other respects I know that you are not of this frightful city for I have been here for almost ten moons and never have I seen a male Galoo brought hither before nor are there such as you and I other than prisoners in the land of U'oh and these are all females Are you a prisoner then? He told her briefly who and what he was though he doubted if she understood and from her he learned that she had been a prisoner there for many months but for what purpose he did not then learn as in the midst of their conversation the yellow door swung open and a Wiru with a robe slashed with yellow entered at sight of Bradley the creature became furious whence came this reptile it demanded of the girl how long has it been here with you? it came through the doorway just ahead of you Bradley answered for the girl the Wiru looked relieved it is well for the girl that this is so it said for now only you will have to die and stepping to the door the creature raised its voice in one of those uncanny depressing whales the Englishman looked toward the girl Shall I kill it? he asked half drawing his pistol What is best to do? I do not wish to endanger you the Wiru back toward the door Defiler! it screamed you dare to threaten one of the sacred chosen of Luwata Do not kill him? cried the girl for then there could be no hope for you that you are here alive he knows that they may not intend to kill you at all and so there is a chance for you if you do not anger them but touch him in violence and your bleached skull will top the loftiest pedestal of U'oh and what of you? asked Bradley I am already doomed replied the girl I am Kosatalo Kosatalo, Kosatalu what did these phrases mean that they were so oft repeated by the denizens of U'oh? Luwata and Luwata Bradley knew to mean man and woman Ata was employed variously to indicate life eggs, young, reproduction and kindred subjects Kosatalo was a negative but in combination they were meaningless to the European Do you mean they will kill you? asked Bradley I but wish that they would replied the girl my fate is to be worse than death in just a few nights more with the coming of the new moon poor she-snake snapped the Wiru you are to become sacred above all other she's he who speaks for Luwata has chosen you for himself today you go to his temple the Wiru used a phrase meaning literally high place where you will receive the sacred commands the girl shuddered and cast a sorrowful glance toward Bradley ah she sighed if I could but see my beloved country once again the man stepped suddenly close to her side before the Wiru could interpose and in a low voice asked her if there was no way by which she might encompass her escape she shook her head sorrowfully even if we escape to the city she replied there is the big water between the island of U'oh and the Galoo shore and what is beyond the city if we could leave it pursued Bradley I may only guess from what I have heard since I was brought here she answered but by reports and chance remarks I take it to be a beautiful land in which there are but few wild beasts and no men for only the Wirus live upon this island and they dwell always in cities of which there are three this being the largest the others are at the far end of the island which is about three marches from end to end and at its widest point about one march from his own experience and what the natives on the mainland had told him Bradley knew that ten miles was a good day's march in Kaspack owing to the fact that at most points it was a trackless wilderness and at all times travellers were beset by hideous beasts and reptiles that greatly impeded rapid progress the two had spoken rapidly but were now interrupted by the advent of the opening in the roof of several Wirus who had come in answer to the alarm it of the yellow slashing had uttered this Jalu cried the offended one has threatened me take it hatch it from it and make it fast where it can do no harm until he who speaks full water has said what shall be done with it it is one of those strange creatures that Foch Balsos discovered first above the banned Lu country and followed back toward the beginning he who speaks full water sent Foch Balsos to fetch him one of the creatures and here it is it is hoped that it may be from another world and hold the secret of the Kossata Lus the Wirus approached Baldly to take Bradley's hatchet from him their leader having indicated the pistol hanging in its holster at the Englishman's hip but the first one went reeling backward against his fellows from the blow to the chin which Bradley followed up with a rush and the intention to clean up the room in record time but he had reckoned without the opening in the roof two were down and a great wailing and moaning was arising when reinforcements appeared from above Bradley did not see them but the girl did and though she cried out a warning it came too late for him to avoid a large Wiru who dived head foremost for him striking him between the shoulders and bearing him to the floor instantly a dozen more were piling on top of him his pistol was wrenched from its holster and he was securely pinging down by the weight of numbers at a word from the Wiru of the yellow slashing who evidently was a person of authority one left and presently returned with fibre ropes with which Bradley was tightly bound now bear him to the blue place of seven skulls directed the chief Wiru and one take the word of all that has passed to him who speaks for Luata each of the creatures raised a hand the back against its face as though in salute one seized Bradley and carried him through the yellow doorway to the roof from whence it rose upon its wide spread wings and flapped off across the rooftops of U'oh with its heavy burden clutched in its long talons below him Bradley could see the city stretching away to a distance on every hand it was not as large as he had imagined though he judged that it was at least three miles square the houses were piled in indescribable heaps sometimes to a height of a hundred feet the streets and alleys were short and crooked and there were many areas where buildings had been wedged in so closely that no light could possibly reach the lowest tears the entire surface of the ground being packed solidly with them the colours were varied and startling the architecture amazing many roofs were cup or saucer shaped with a small hole in the centre of each as though they had been constructed to catch rainwater and conduct it to a reservoir beneath but nearly all the others had the large opening in the top that Bradley had seen used by these flying men in lieu of doorways at all levels were the myriad poles surmounted by grinning skulls but the two most prominent features of the city were the round tower of human skulls that Bradley had noted earlier in the day and another and much larger edifice near the centre of the city as they approached it Bradley saw that it was a huge building rising a hundred feet in height from the ground and that it stood alone in the centre of what might have been called a plaza in some other part of the world its various parts however were set together with the same strange irregularity that marked the architecture of the city as a whole and it was capped by an enormous saucer shaped roof which projected far beyond the eaves having the appearance of a colossal Chinese coolie hat inverted the were-rubed bearing Bradley passed over one corner of the open space about the large building revealing to the Englishmen grass and trees and running water beneath they passed the building and about 500 yards beyond the creature alighted on the roof of a square blue building surmounted by seven poles of seven skulls this then thought Bradley is the blue place of seven skulls over the opening in the roof was a grated covering and this the were-rub removed the thing then tied a piece of fibre rope to one of Bradley's ankles and rolled him over the edge of the opening all was dark below and for an instant the Englishmen came as near to experiencing real terror as he had ever come in his life before as he rolled off into the black abyss he felt the rope tighten about his ankle and an instant later he was stopped with a sudden jerk to swing pendulum like head downward then the creature lowered away until Bradley's head came in sudden and painful contact with the floor below after which the were-rub let loose of the rope entirely and the Englishmen's body crashed to the wooden planking he felt the free end of the rope dropped upon him and heard the grating being slid into place above him