Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 1 — page 68: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ee spk So Se is ae tee: Se cities Ps. pe oy" ahi age A ng LOE, THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT though of a darker shade. Their past experience of Caspak 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 Caspak’s gro- tesque, manlike creatures. Already since they had disembarked from the U-33 after its perilous trip through the subterranean channel beneath the bar- rier cliffs had brought them into the inland sea of Caspak, 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 a trifle more erect and had features with just a shade more of the human cast about them. Then there were men like Ahm, whom they had captured and confined at the fort—Ahm, the club-man. “Well-known club-man,” Tyler had called him. Ahm 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. B 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 laden with meat evidently returning to its caves or village. 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 Bo-lu, or club-men. 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 no escape from an encounter. On the chance that he might avoid a clash, Brad- ley stepped forward with upraised hand. “We are friends,” he called in the tongue of Ahm, the Bo-lu, who had been held a prisoner at the fort; “permit us to pass in peace. We will not harm you.” At this the hatchet-met 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 hide- ous shouts they charged down upon the Europeans. “Sinclair, you may fire,” said Bradley quietly. “Pick off the leader. Can’t waste ammunition.” 67 The Englishman raised his piece to his shoulder and took quick aim at the breast of the yelling sav- age leaping toward them. Directly behind the ‘leader came another hatchet-man, and with the re- port 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 ap- proached to examine them, and as the Europeans gathered around, other eyes were bent upon them with greater curiosity than they displayed for the victims 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 cer- tain cold cruelty which glinted malignly from their pale gray irises. Flying Beings and the Meat-Eaters LL unconscious of the stalker, the men came, late in the afternoon, to a spot which seemed favorable as a campsite. A cold spring bubbled from the base of a rocky formation which overhung and partially encircled a small inclosure. At Brad- ley’s command, the men took up the duties assigned them—gathering wood, building a cook-fire and pre- paring 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 a bygone age, his rifle ready in his hand. Brady was a brave man. He had groped his way up nar- row 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. “Gawd!” 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 protect us—it’s a dragon!” 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 near-by wood the five men stood as though par- alyzed, their eyes never leaving the weird shape, and not one of them appearing to recall that he grasped a loaded rifle in his hands. With the passing of the thing came the reaction. Tippet sank to the ground and buried his face in his hands. “Oh, Gord,” he moaned. “Tyke me awy from this orful plice.” 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 av thim flyin’ alligators” that they all were familiar with. (E(0) EOMmIchbooks