Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 1 — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

a TA = r. Janus SF te” a Ye eee es Oo a Se Pony = - a as iy "eet ee. “hs = 3 a Se “25 a i F, : . PS +: ¥7e = E 4 oe Wis ae ae Se ee * ~ .4 - . v~ “7 cad “ Sas A ? 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 twenty 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 en- tirely of human skulls. And the city extended in every direction as far as the Englishman could see. All about him Wieroos 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 appareled 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 commandedy “and then come back. You cannot escape. If any question you, say that you belong to Fosh-bal-soj. There is the way.” And this time he pointed to the top of a ladder which protruded above the eaves of the roof near-by. Then he turned and reentered the house, Bradley looked about him. No, he could not es- cape—that seemed evident. The city appeared in- terminable, 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 Oo-oh—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 rueful grin crossed his features—the alley was paved with skulls. “The City of Human Skulls,” mused Brad- ley. “They must have been collectin’ ’em since Adam,” he thought, and then he crossed and en- tered the building through the doorway that had been pointed out to him. Inside he found a large room in which were many Wieroos 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 pro- truded from each of the four sides .of the ped- estals—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 Wieroos espied him, and a dismal wail arose. Whether it was a greeting or a threat, Bradley did not know. Sud- denly from a dark alcove another Wieroo rushed out toward him. “Who are you?” he cried. “What do you want?” “Fosh-bal-soj sent me here to eat,” replied Brad- ley. “Do you belong to Fosh-bal-soj?” asked the other. . Eg SN CE eae. i oe Nee a oe oe ee ee Oe Ae oe gm OPA Oe OS i Te SO sitter =. *. ia ee Be eis ok ee THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT 75 “That appears to be what he thinks,” answered the Engishman. “Are you cos-ata-lu?” demanded the Wieroo. “Give me something to eat or I’ll be all of that,” replied Bradley. ' The Wieroo looked puzzled. “Sit here, jaal-lu,” 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 Caspak. A Talk with a Wieroo Be. Wieroo 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 Wieroos in his immediate vicinity. He saw that in each font was a quantity of food, and that each Wieroo was armed with a wooden skewer, sharp- ened at one end, with which they carried solid por- tions of food to their mouths. At the other end of the skewer was fastened a small clam-shell. This was used to scoop up the smaller and softer por- tions of the repast into which all four of the occu- _pants of each table dipped impartially. The Wieroos 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 bolt 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, smaH fish and other undistinguishable articles of food all Seasoned to produceca 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-contin- ued use, the four outer edges hollowed and polished by the contact of the countless Wieroo 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 floor of stone 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 gen- eral level of the floor. Finally, seeing that no one came to collect, Brad- ley arose and started for the doorway. He had covered half the distance when he heard the voice of mine host calling him. “Come back, jaal-lu,” screamed the Wieroo; and Bradley did as he was comicbooks. mm), ee -.