Amazing Stories, Vol. 2, No. 1 — page 94: what you’re looking at

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

both occupied. He still sought new plans for escape, but with ever-lessening enthusiasm, since each new scheme presented some insurmountable obstacle. And then one day as a bolt out of a clear sky _¢ame that which blasted the peace and security of their sanctuary forever. ing from the water after his morning plunge when from overhead came the sound of flapping wings. Glancing quickly up the man saw a white-robed Wieroo circling slowly above him. That he had been discovered he could not doubt since the crea- ture even dropped to a lower altitude as though to assure itself that what it saw was a man. Then it rose rapidly and winged away toward the city. For two days Bradley and the girl lived in a con- stant state of apprehension, awaiting the moment when the hunters would come for them; but nothing happened until just after dawn of the third day, when the flapping of wings apprised them of the approach of Wieroos. Together they went to the edge of the wood and looked up to see five red-robed creatures dropping slowly in ever-lessening spirals toward their little amphitheater. With no attempt - at concealment they came, sure of their ability to overwhelm these two fugitives, and with the fullest measure of self-confidence they landed in the clear- ing but a few yards from the man and the girl. ‘Following a plan already discussed Bradley and the girl retreated slowly into the woods. The Wie- roos advanced, calling upon them to give themselves up; but the quarry made no reply. Farther and farther into the little wood Bradley led the hunters, permitting them to approach ever closer; then he circled back again toward the clearing, evidently to the great delight of the Wieroos, who now followed more leisurely, awaiting the moment when they should be beyond the trees and able to use their wings. They had opened into semicircular forma- tion now with the evident intention of cutting the two off from returning into the wood. Each Wieroo advanced with his curved blade ready in his hand, each hideous face blank and expressionless. . It was then that Bradley opened fire with his pistol—three shots, aimed with careful deliberation, for it had been long since he had used the weapon, and he could not afford to chance wasting ammuni- tion on misses. At each shot a Wieroo dropped; and then the remaining two sought escape by flight, screaming and wailing after the manner of their kind. When a Wieroo runs, his wings spread al- most without any volition upon his part, since from time immemorial he has always used them to balance himself and accelerate his running speed so that in the open they appear to skim the surface of the ground when in the act of running. But here in the woods, among the close-set boles, the spread- ing of their wings proved their undoing—it hin- dered and stopped them and threw them to the ground, and then Bradley was upon them threaten- ing them with instant death if they did not sur- render—promising them their freedom if they did his bidding. “As you have seen,” he cried, “I can kill you when I wish and at a distance. You cannot escape me. Your only hope of life lies in obedience. Quick, or I kill!” Bradley was just emerg- © The Wieroos stopped and faced him. “What do you want of us?” asked one. The Submissive Wieroos pS Masi aside your weapons,” Bradley com- manded. After a moment’s hesitation they obeyed. : “Now approach!” <A great plan—the only plan —had suddenly come to him like an inspiration. The Wieroos came closer and halted at his com- mand. Bradley turned to the girl. ‘There is rope in the shelter,” he said. ‘Fetch it!” She did as he bid, and then he directed her to fasten one end of a fifty-foot length to the ankle of one of the Wieroos and the opposite end to the sec- ond. The creatures gave evidence of great fear, but they dared not attempt to prevent the act. “Now go out into the clearing,” said Bradley, “and remember that I am walking close behind and that I will shoot the nearer one should either at- tempt to escape—that will hold the other until I can kill him as well.” f In the open he halted them. ‘The girl will get upon the back of the one in front,” announced the Englishman. “I will mount the other. She carries a sharp blade, and I carry this weapon that you know kills easily at a distance. If you disobey in the slightest, the instructions that I am about to give you, you shall both die. That we must die with you, will not deter us. If you obey, I promise to set you free without harming you. “You will carry us due west, depositing us upon the shore of the mainland—that is all. It is the price of your lives. Do you agree?” Sullenly the Wieroos acquiesced. Bradley exam- ined the knots that held the rope to their ankles, and finding them secure directed the girl to mount the back of the leading Wieroo, himself climbing upon the other. Then he gave the signal for the two to rise together. With loud flapping of the powerful wings the creatures took to the air, circling once before they topped the trees upon the hill and then taking a course due west out over the waters of the sea. Nowhere about them could Bradley see signs of other Wieroos, nor of those other menaces which he had. feared might bring disaster to his plans for escape—the huge, winged -reptilia that are so nu- merous above the southern areas of Caspak and which are often seen, though in lesser numbers, farther north. Nearer and nearer loomed the mainland—a broad, parklike expanse stretching inland to the foot of a low plateau spread out before them. The little dots in the foreground became grazing herds of deer and antelope and bos; a huge woolly rhinoceros wallowed in a mudhole to the right, and beyond, a mighty mammoth culled the tender shoots-from a tall tree. The roars and sereams and growls of giant carni- vora came faintly to their ears. Ah, this was Cas- pak. With all its dangers and its primal savagery ,it brought a fullness to the throat of the Eng- lishman as to one who sees and hears the familiar sights and sounds of home after a long absence. Then the Wieroos dropped swiftly downward to the flower-starred turf that grew almost to the water’s edge, the fugitives slipped from their backs, and Gomicbooks (E(0)