The Land That Time Forgot, Edgar Rice Burroughs [books suggested by bill gates TXT] 📗

projections setting in round holes in both lintel and sill forming the axis upon which the door swung. An eccentric disk upon the inside face of the door engaged a slot in the frame when it was desired to secure the door against intruders.

As Bradley stood flattened against the wall waiting for the Wieroo to move on, he heard the creature’s wings brushing against the sides of the buildings as it made its way down the narrow passage in his direction. As the yellow door offered the only means of escape without detection, the Englishman decided to risk whatever might lie beyond it, and so, boldly pushing it in, he crossed the threshold and entered a small apartment.

As he did so, he heard a muffled ejaculation of surprise, and turning his eyes in the direction from whence the sound had come, he beheld a wide-eyed girl standing flattened against the opposite wall, an expression of incredulity upon her face. At a glance he saw that she was of no race of humans that he had come in contact with since his arrival upon Caprona⁠—there was no trace about her form or features of any relationship to those low orders of men, nor was she appareled as they⁠—or, rather, she did not entirely lack apparel as did most of them.

A soft hide fell from her left shoulder to just below her left hip on one side and almost to her right knee on the other, a loose girdle was about her waist, and golden ornaments such as he had seen in the blue-and-white chest encircled her arms and legs, while a golden fillet with a triangular diadem bound her heavy hair above her brows. Her skin was white as from long confinement within doors; but it was clear and fine. Her figure, but partially concealed by the soft deerskin, was all curves of symmetry and youthful grace, while her features might easily have been the envy of the most fêted of Continental beauties.

If the girl was surprised by the sudden appearance of Bradley, the latter was absolutely astounded to discover so wondrous a creature among the hideous inhabitants of the City of Human Skulls. For a moment the two looked at one another in unconcealed consternation, and then Bradley spoke, using to the best of his poor ability, the common tongue of Caspak.

“Who are you,” he asked, “and from where do you come? Do not tell me that you are a Wieroo.”

“No,” she replied, “I am no Wieroo.” And she shuddered slightly as she pronounced the word. “I am a Galu; but who and what are you? I am sure that you are no Galu, from your garments; but you are like the Galus in other respects. I know that you are not of this frightful city, for I have been here for almost ten moons, and never have I seen a male Galu brought hither before, nor are there such as you and I, other than prisoners in the land of Oo-oh, and these are all females. Are you a prisoner, then?”

He told her briefly who and what he was, though he doubted if she understood, and from her he learned that she had been a prisoner there for many months; but for what purpose he did not then learn, as in the midst of their conversation the yellow door swung open and a Wieroo with a robe slashed with yellow entered.

At sight of Bradley the creature became furious. “Whence came this reptile?” it demanded of the girl. “How long has it been here with you?”

“It came through the doorway just ahead of you,” Bradley answered for the girl.

The Wieroo looked relieved. “It is well for the girl that this is so,” it said, “for now only you will have to die.” And stepping to the door the creature raised its voice in one of those uncanny, depressing wails.

The Englishman looked toward the girl. “Shall I kill it?” he asked, half drawing his pistol. “What is best to do?⁠—I do not wish to endanger you.”

The Wieroo backed toward the door. “Defiler!” it screamed. “You dare to threaten one of the sacred chosen of Luata!”

“Do not kill him,” cried the girl, “for then there could be no hope for you. That you are here, alive, shows that they may not intend to kill you at all, and so there is a chance for you if you do not anger them; but touch him in violence and your bleached skull will top the loftiest pedestal of Oo-oh.”

“And what of you?” asked Bradley.

“I am already doomed,” replied the girl; “I am cos-ata-lo.”

“Cos-ata-lo! cos-ata-lu!” What did these phrases mean that they were so oft repeated by the denizens of Oo-oh? Lu and lo, Bradley knew to mean man and woman; ata; was employed variously to indicate life, eggs, young, reproduction and kindred subjects; cos was a negative; but in combination they were meaningless to the European.

“Do you mean they will kill you?” asked Bradley.

“I but wish that they would,” replied the girl. “My fate is to be worse than death⁠—in just a few nights more, with the coming of the new moon.”

“Poor she-snake!” snapped the Wieroo. “You are to become sacred above all other shes. He Who Speaks for Luata has chosen you for himself. Today you go to his temple⁠—” the Wieroo used a phrase meaning literally High Place⁠—“where you will receive the sacred commands.”

The girl shuddered and cast a sorrowful glance toward Bradley. “Ah,” she sighed, “if I could but see my beloved country once again!”

The man stepped suddenly close to her side before the Wieroo could interpose and in a low voice asked her if there was no way by which he might encompass her escape. She shook her head sorrowfully. “Even if we escaped the city,” she replied, “there is the big water between the island of Oo-oh and the Galu shore.”

“And what is beyond the city, if