Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 1 — page 85: what you’re looking at

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

the blankness of the wall. 84 and continue on downstream until he had come be- yond the city; and so he stood and waited until his limbs became almost paralyzed with cold, and he knew that he must find some other plan for escape. Another Encounter with a Wieroo HALF-FORMED decision to risk an attempt to swim under water to the temple was crys- tallizing in spite of the fact that any chance Wieroo flying about the stream might easily see him, when again a floating object bumped against him from behind and lodged across his back. Turn- ing quickly he saw that the thing was what he had immediately guessed it to be—a headless and wing- less Wieroo corpse. With a grunt of disgust he was about to push it from him when the white garment enshrouding it suggested a bold plan to his resourceful brain. Grasping the corpse by an arm he tore the garment from it and then let the body float downward toward the temple. With great care he draped the robe about him; the bloody blotch that had covered the severed neck he ar- ranged about his own head. His haversack he rolled as tightly as possible and stuffed beneath his coat over his breast. Then he fell gently to the surface of the stream and lying upon his back floated downward with the current and out into the open sunlight. Thuough the weave of the cloth he could distin- guish large objects. He saw a Wieroo flap dismally above him; he saw the banks of the stream float slowly past; he heard a sudden wail upon the right- hand shore, and his heart stood still lest his ruse had been discovered; but never by a move of a muscle did he betray that aught but a cold lump of clay floated there upon the bosom of the water, and soon, though it seemed an eternity to him, the direct sunlight was blotted out, and he knew that he had entered beneath the temple. Quickly he felt for bottom with his feet and as quickly stood erect, snatching the bloody, clammy cloth from his face. On both sides were blank walls and before him the river. turned a sharp corner and disappeared. Feeling his way cautiously forward he approached the turn and looked around the cor- ner. To his left was a low platform about a foot above the level of the stream, and upon this he lost no time in climbing, for he was soaked from head to foot, cold and almost exhausted. As he lay resting on the skull-paved shelf, he saw in the center of the vault above the river an- other of those sinister round holes through which he momentarily expected to see a headless corpse shoot downward in its last plunge to a watery grave. A few feet along the platform a closed door broke As he lay looking at it and wondering what lay beyond, his mind filled with fragments of many wild schemes of escape, it opened and a white-robed Wieroo stepped out upon the platform. The creature carried a large wooden basin filled with rubbish. Its eyes were not upon Bradley, who drew himself to a squatting position and crouched as far back in the corner of the niche in which the platform was set as he could - force himself. The Wieroo stepped to the edge of the platform and dumped the rubbish into the stream. If it turned away from him as it started NT Se. eee Pe tae AS ae een OX} - Ser ai a aS a ' Sst Oh Sai tye AMAZING STORIES to retrace its steps to the doorway, there was 2 small chance that it might not see him; but if it turned toward him there was none at all. Bradley held his breath. The Wieroo paused a moment, gazing down into the water, then it straightened up and turned toward the Englishman. Bradley did not move. The Wieroo stopped and stared intently at him. It approached him questioningly. Still Bradley re- mained as though carved of stone. The creature was directly in front of him. It stopped. There was no chance on earth that it would not discover what he was. With the quickness of a cat, Bradley sprang to his feet and. with all his great strength, backed by his heavy weight, struck the Wieroo upon the point of the chin. Without a sound the thing crumpled to the platform, while Bradley, acting almost in- stinctively to the urge of the first law of nature, rolled the inanimate body over the edge into the river. Then he looked at the open doorway, crossed the platform and peered within the apartment beyond. What he saw was a large room, dimly lighted, and about the sides rows of wooden vessels stacked one upon another. There was no Wieroo in sight, so the Englishman entered. At the far end of the room was another door, and as he crossed toward it, he glanced into some of the vessels, which he found were filled with dried fruits, vegetables and fish. Without more ado he stuffed his pockets and his haversack full, thinking of the poor creature awaiting his return in the gloom of the Place of Seven Skulls. When night came, he would return and fetch An- Tak this far at least; but in the meantime it was his intention to reconnoiter in the hope that he might discover some easier way out of the city than that offered by the chill, black channel of the ghastly river of corpses. Beyond the farther door stretched a long pas- sageway from which closed doorways led into other parts of the cellars of the temple. A few yards from the storeroom a ladder rose from the corridor through an aperture in the ceiling. Bradley paused at the foot of it, debating the wisdom of further investigation against a return to the river; but strong within him was the spirit of exploration that has scattered his race to the four corners of the earth. What new mysteries lay hidden in the chambers above? The urge to know was strong upon him though his better judgment warned him that the safer course lay in retreat. For a moment he stood thus, running his fingers through his hair; then he cast discretion to the winds and began the ascent. A Duel with the Curved Sword Blades N conformity with such Wieroo architecture as he had already observed, the well through which the ladder rose continually varied in form and size, being now circular, now oval, rectangular or poly- hedrical and occasionally canted at an angle from the perpendicular. At more or less regular stages it was pierced by apertures closed by doors, none of which he could open until he had climbed fully fifty feet from the river level. Here he discovered a — cs-cO - = comicbook