Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 1 — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT door already ajar opening into a large, circular chamber, the walls and floors of which were covered with the skins of wild beasts and with rugs of many colors; but what interested him most was the occupants of the room—a Wieroo, and a girl of human proportions. She was standing with her back against a column which rose from the center of the apartment from floor to ceiling—a hollow col- umn about forty inches in diameter in which he could see an opening some thirty inches across. The girl’s side was toward Bradley, and her face averted, for she was watching the Wieroo, who was now advancing slowly toward her, talking as he came. , Bradley could distinctly hear the words of the creature, who was urging the girl to accompany him to another Wieroo city. “Come with me,” he said, “and you shall have your life; remain here and He Who Speaks for Luata will claim you for his own; and when he is done with you, your skull will bleach at the top of a tall staff while your body will feed the reptiles at the mouth of the River of Death. Even though you bring into the world a female Wieroo, your fate will be the same if you do not escape him, while with me you shall have life and food and none shall harm you.” He was quite close to the girl when she replied by striking him in the face with all her strength. “Until I am slain,” she cried, “I shall fight against you all.” From the throat of the Wieroo issued that dismal wail that Bradley had heard so often in the past—it was like a scream of pain smothered to a groan—and then the thing leaped upon the girl, its face working in hideous grimaces as it clawed and beat at her to force her to the floor. The Englishman was upon the point of entering -to defend her when a door at the opposite side of the chamber opened to admit a huge Wieroo clothed entirely in red. At sight of the two struggling upon the floor the newcomer raised his voice in a shriek of rage. Instantly the Wieroo who was at- tacking the girl leaped to his feet and faced the _ other. “T heard,” screamed he who had just entered the room. “I heard, and when He Who Speaks for Luata shall have heard—”’ He paused and made a suggestive movement of a forefinger across his throat. “He shall not hear,” returned the first Wieroo as, with a powerful motion of his great wings, he launched himself upon the red-robed figure. The latter dodged the first charge, drew a wicked- looking, curved blade from beneath its red robe, spread its wings and dived for its antagonist. Beating their wings, wailing and groaning, the two hideous things sparred for position. The white- robed one being unarmed sought to grasp the other by the wrist of its knife-hand and by the throat, while the latter hopped around on its dainty white feet, seeking an opening for a mortal blow. Once it struck and missed, and then the other rushed in and clinched, at the same time securing both the ‘holds it sought. Immediately the two commenced beating at each other’s heads with the joints of their wings, kicking with their soft, puny feet and _ biting, each at the other’s face. oe the meantime the a moved about_the room, =x S . $ “+ ee el i P- oa a ; bi ms o. n= ae >. SS oe Oe 85 keeping out of the way of the duelists, and as she did so, Brad ey caught a glimpse of her full face and immediately recognized her as the girl of the place of the yellow door. He did not dare inter- vene now until one of the Wieroo had overcome the other, lest the two should turn upon him at once, when the chances were fair that he would be de- feated in so unequal a battle as the curved blade of the red Wieroo would render it, and so he waited, watching the white-robed figure slowly choking the life from him of the red robe. The protruding tongue and the popping eyes proclaimed that the end was near and a moment later the red robe sank to the floor of the room, the curved blade slipping from nerveless fingers. For an instant longer the victor clung to the throat of his defeated antag- onist and then he rose, dragging the body after him, and approached the central column. Here he raised the body and thrust it into the aperture where Bradley saw it drop suddenly from sight. Instantly there flashed into his memory the circu- lar openings in the roof of the river vault and the corpses he had seen drop from them to the water beneath. As the body disappeared, the Wieroo turned and cast about the room for the girl. For a moment he stood eying her. “You saw,” he muttered, “and if you tell them, He Who Speaks for Luata will have my wings severed while still I live and my head will be severed and I shall be cast into the River of Death, for thus it happens even to the high- est who slay one of the red robe. You saw, and you must die!” he ended with a scream as he rushed upon the girl. The Blue Room Rees waited no longer. Leaping into the room he ran for the Wieroo, who had already seized the girl, and as he ran, he stooped and picked up the curved blade. The creature’s back was toward him as, with his left hand, he seized it by the neck. Like a flash the great wings beat backward as the creature turned, and Bradley was swept from his feet, though he still retained his hold upon the blade. Instantly the Wieroo was upon him. Bradley lay slightly raised upon his left elbow, his right arm free, and as the, thing came close, he cut at the hideous face with all the strength that lay within him. The blade struck at the junction of the neck and torso and with such force as to completely decapitate the Wieroo, the hideous head dropping to the floor and the body falling forward upon the Englishman. Pushing it from him he rose to his feet and faced the wide-eyed girl. “Luata!” she exclaimed. “How came you here?” Bradley shrugged. “Here I am,” he said; “but the thing now is to get out of here—both of us.” The girl-shook her head. “It cannot be,” she stated sadly. “That is what I thought when they dropped me into the Blue Place of Seven Skulls,” replied Brad- ley. “Can’t be done. I did it. —Here! You’re mussing up the floor something awful, you.” This last to the dead Wieroo as he stooped and dragged the corpse to the central shaft, where he raised it to the E spertare and let it slip into the tube. Thee: CE Se ane CO MN ebooks 7eor ov ate Fe 2 > >