The farther the group progressed, the more barbaric and the moresumptuous became the decorations. Hides of leopard and tigerpredominated, apparently because of their more beautifulmarkings, and decorative skulls became more and more numerous. Many of the latter were mounted in precious metals and set withcolored stones and priceless gems, while thick upon the hidesthat covered the walls were golden ornaments similar to thoseworn by the girl and those which had filled the chests he hadexamined in the storeroom of Fosh-bal-soj, leading the Englishmanto the conviction that all such were spoils of war or theft,since each piece seemed made for personal adornment, while in sofar as he had seen, no Wieroo wore ornaments of any sort.

And also as they advanced the more numerous became the Wieroosmoving hither and thither within the temple. Many now were thesolid red robes and those that were slashed with blue--averitable hive of murderers.

At last the party halted in a room in which were many Wieroos whogathered about Bradley questioning his captors and examining himand his apparel. One of the party accompanying the Englishmanspoke to a Wieroo that stood beside a door leading from the room. "Tell Him Who Speaks for Luata," he said, "that Fosh-bal-soj wecould not find; but that in returning we found this creaturewithin the temple, hiding. It must be the same that Fosh-bal-sojcaptured in the Sto-lu country during the last darkness. Doubtless He Who Speaks for Luata would wish to see and questionthis strange thing."

The creature addressed turned and slipped through the doorway,closing the door after it, but first depositing its curved bladeupon the floor without. Its post was immediately taken byanother and Bradley now saw that at least twenty such guardsloitered in the immediate vicinity. The doorkeeper was gone butfor a moment, and when he returned, he signified that Bradley'sparty was to enter the next chamber; but first each of theWieroos removed his curved weapon and laid it upon the floor. The door was swung open, and the party, now reduced to Bradleyand five Wieroos, was ushered across the threshold into a large,irregularly shaped room in which a single, giant Wieroo whoserobe was solid blue sat upon a raised dais.

The creature's face was white with the whiteness of a corpse, itsdead eyes entirely expressionless, its cruel, thin lips tight-drawnagainst yellow teeth in a perpetual grimace. Upon either side ofit lay an enormous, curved sword, similar to those with which someof the other Wieroos had been armed, but larger and heavier. Constantly its clawlike fingers played with one or the other ofthese weapons.

The walls of the chamber as well as the floor were entirelyhidden by skins and woven fabrics. Blue predominated in allthe colorations. Fastened against the hides were many pairs ofWieroo wings, mounted so that they resembled long, black shields. Upon the ceiling were painted in blue characters a bewilderingseries of hieroglyphics and upon pedestals set against the wallsor standing out well within the room were many human skulls.

As the Wieroos approached the figure upon the dais, they leanedfar forward, raising their wings above their heads and stretchingtheir necks as though offering them to the sharp swords of thegrim and hideous creature.

"O Thou Who Speakest for Luata!" exclaimed one of the party. "We bring you the strange creature that Fosh-bal-soj capturedand brought thither at thy command."

So this then was the godlike figure that spoke for divinity! This arch-murderer was the Caspakian representative of God on Earth!His blue robe announced him the one and the seeming humility of hisminions the other. For a long minute he glared at Bradley. Then hebegan to question him--from whence he came and how, the name anddescription of his native country, and a hundred other queries.

"Are you cos-ata-lu?" the creature asked.

Bradley replied that he was and that all his kind were, as wellas every living thing in his part of the world.

"Can you tell me the secret?" asked the creature.

Bradley hesitated and then, thinking to gain time, replied inthe affirmative.

"What is it?" demanded the Wieroo, leaning far forward andexhibiting every evidence of excited interest.

Bradley leaned forward and whispered: "It is for your ears alone;I will not divulge it to others, and then only on condition thatyou carry me and the girl I saw in the place of the yellow doornear to that of Fosh-bal-soj back to her own country."

The thing rose in wrath, holding one of its swords above its head.

"Who are you to make terms for Him Who Speaks for Luata?"it shrilled. "Tell me the secret or die where you stand!"

"And if I die now, the secret goes with me," Bradley reminded him. "Never again will you get the opportunity to question another ofmy kind who knows the secret." Anything to gain time, to get therest of the Wieroos from the room, that he might plan some schemefor escape and put it into effect.

The creature turned upon the leader of the party that hadbrought Bradley.

"Is the thing with weapons?" it asked.

"No," was the response.

"Then go; but tell the guard to remain close by," commanded thehigh one.

The Wieroos salaamed and withdrew, closing the door behind them. He Who Speaks for Luata grasped a sword nervously in his right hand. At his left side lay the second weapon. It was evident that helived in constant dread of being assassinated. The fact that hepermitted none with weapons within his presence and that healways kept two swords at his side pointed to this.

Bradley was racking his brain to find some suggestion of a planwhereby he might turn the situation to his own account. His eyeswandered past the weird figure before him; they played about thewalls of the apartment as though hoping to draw inspiration fromthe dead skulls and the hides and the wings, and then they cameback to the face of the Wieroo god, now working in anger.

"Quick!" screamed the thing. "The secret!"

"Will you give me and the girl our freedom?" insisted Bradley.

For an instant the thing hesitated, and then it grumbled "Yes."At the same instant Bradley saw two hides upon the wall directlyback of the dais separate and a face appear in the opening. No change of expression upon the Englishman's countenance betrayedthat he had seen aught to surprise him, though surprised he wasfor the face in the aperture was that of the girl he had but justleft hidden beneath the hides in another chamber. A white andshapely arm now pushed past the face into the room, and in thehand, tightly clutched, was the curved blade, smeared with blood,that Bradley had dropped beneath the hides at the moment he hadbeen discovered and drawn from his concealment.

"Listen, then," said Bradley in a low voice to the Wieroo. "You shall know the secret of cos-ata-lu as well as doI; but none other may hear it. Lean close--I will whisperit into your ear."

He moved forward and stepped upon the dais. The creature raisedits sword ready to strike at the first indication of treachery,and Bradley stooped beneath the blade and put his ear close tothe gruesome face. As he did so, he rested his weight upon hishands, one upon either side of the Wieroo's body, his right handupon the hilt of the spare sword lying at the left of Him WhoSpeaks for Luata.

"This then is the secret of both life and death," he whispered,and at the same instant he grasped the Wieroo by the right wristand with his own right hand swung the extra blade in a suddenvicious blow against the creature's neck before the thing couldgive even a single cry of alarm; then without waiting an instantBradley leaped past the dead god and vanished behind the hidesthat had hidden the girl.

Wide-eyed and panting the girl seized his arm. "Oh, what haveyou done?" she cried. "He Who Speaks for Luata will be avengedby Luata. Now indeed must you die. There is no escape, for eventhough we reached my own country Luata can find you out."

"Bosh!" exclaimed Bradley, and then: "But you were going to knifehim yourself."

"Then I alone should have died," she replied.

Bradley scratched his head. "Neither of us is going to die," hesaid; "at least not at the hands of any god. If we don't get outof here though, we'll die right enough. Can you find your wayback to the room where I first came upon you in the temple?"

"I know the way," replied the girl; "but I doubt if we can goback without being seen. I came hither because I only metWieroos who knew that I am supposed now to be in the temple;but you could go elsewhere without being discovered."

Bradley's ingenuity had come up against a stone wall. There seemed no possibility of escape. He looked about him. They were in a small room where lay a litter of rubbish--tornbits of cloth, old hides, pieces of fiber rope. In the centerof the room was a cylindrical shaft with an opening in its face. Bradley knew it for what it was. Here the arch-fiend dragged hisvictims and cast their bodies into the river of death far below. The floor about the opening in the shaft and the sides of theshaft were clotted thick with a dried, dark brown substance thatthe Englishman knew had once been blood. The place had theappearance of having been a veritable shambles. An odor ofdecaying flesh permeated the air.

The Englishman crossed to the shaft and peered into the opening. All below was dark as pitch; but at the bottom he knew wasthe river. Suddenly an inspiration and a bold scheme leaped tohis mind. Turning quickly he hunted about the room until hefound what he sought--a quantity of the rope that lay strewn hereand there. With rapid fingers he unsnarled the different lengths,the girl helping him, and then he tied the ends together until hehad three ropes about seventy-five feet in length. He fastenedthese together at each end and without a word secured one of theends about the girl's body beneath her arms.

"Don't be frightened," he said at length, as he led her towardthe opening in the shaft. "I'm going to lower you to the river,and then I'm coming down after you. When you are safe below,give two quick jerks upon the rope. If there is danger there andyou want me to draw you up into the shaft, jerk once. Don't beafraid--it is the only way."

"I am not afraid," replied the girl, rather haughtily Bradleythought, and herself climbed through the aperture and hung by herhands waiting for Bradley to lower her.

As rapidly as was consistent with safety, the man paid out the rope. When it was about half out, he heard loud cries and wails suddenlyarise within the room they had just quitted. The slaying of theirgod had been discovered by the Wieroos. A search for the slayerwould begin at once.

Lord! Would the girl never reach the river? At last, just as hewas positive that searchers were already entering the room behindhim, there came two quick tugs at the rope. Instantly Bradleymade the rest of the strands fast about the shaft, slipped intothe black tube and began a hurried descent toward the river. An instant later he stood waist deep in water beside the girl. Impulsively she reached toward him and grasped his arm. A strange thrill ran through him at the contact; but he only cutthe rope from about her body and lifted her to the little shelfat the river's side.

"How can we leave here?" she asked.

"By the river," he replied; "but first I must go back to theBlue Place of Seven Skulls and get the poor devil I left there. I'll have to wait until after dark, though, as I cannot passthrough the open stretch of river in the temple gardens by day."

"There is another way," said the girl. "I have never seenit; but often I have heard them speak of it--a corridor thatruns beside the river from one end of the city to the other. Through the gardens it is below ground. If we could find anentrance to it, we could leave here at once. It is not safe here,for they will search every inch of the temple and the grounds."

"Come," said Bradley. "We'll have a look for it, anyway." And sosaying he approached one of the doors that opened onto theskull-paved shelf.

They found the corridor easily, for it paralleled the river,separated from it only by a single wall. It took them beneath thegardens and the city, always through inky darkness. After theyhad reached the other side of the gardens, Bradley counted hissteps until he had retraced as many as he had taken coming downthe stream; but though they had to grope their way along, it wasa much more rapid trip than the former.

When he thought he was about opposite the point at which he haddescended from the Blue Place of Seven Skulls, he sought andfound a doorway leading out onto the river; and then, still inthe blackest darkness, he lowered himself into the stream andfelt up and down upon the opposite side for the little shelf andthe ladder. Ten yards from where he had emerged he found them,while the girl waited upon the opposite side.

To ascend to the secret panel was the work of but a minute. Here he paused and listened lest a Wieroo might be visiting theprison in search of him or the other inmate; but no sound came fromthe gloomy interior. Bradley could not but muse upon the joy ofthe man on the opposite side when he should drop down to him withfood and a new hope for escape. Then he opened the panel andlooked into the room. The faint light from the grating aboverevealed the pile of rags in one corner; but the man lay beneaththem, he made no response to Bradley's low greeting.

The Englishman lowered himself to the floor of the room andapproached the rags. Stooping he lifted a corner of them. Yes, there was the man asleep. Bradley shook him--there wasno response. He stooped lower and in the dim light examinedAn-Tak; then he stood up with a sigh. A rat leaped from beneaththe coverings and scurried away. "Poor devil!" muttered Bradley.

He crossed the room to swing himself to the perch preparatory toquitting the Blue Place of Seven Skulls forever. Beneath theperch he paused. "I'll not give them the satisfaction," he growled. "Let them believe that he escaped."

Returning to the pile of rags he gathered the man into his arms. It was difficult work raising him to the high perch and dragginghim through the small opening and thus down the ladder; butpresently it was done, and Bradley had lowered the body into theriver and cast it off. "Good-bye, old top!" he whispered.

A moment later he had rejoined the girl and hand in hand theywere following the dark corridor upstream toward the farther endof the city. She told him that the Wieroos seldom frequentedthese lower passages, as the air here was too chill for them; butoccasionally they came, and as they could see quite as well bynight as by day, they would be sure to discover Bradley and the girl.

"If they come close enough," she said, "we can see their eyesshining in the dark--they resemble dull splotches of light. They glow, but do not blaze like the eyes of the tiger or the lion."

The man could not but note the very evident horror with which shementioned the creatures. To him they were uncanny; but she hadbeen used to them for a year almost, and probably all her lifeshe had either seen or heard of them constantly.

"Why do you fear them so?" he asked. "It seems more than anyordinary fear of the harm they can do you."

She tried to explain; but the nearest he could gather was thatshe looked upon the Wieroo almost as supernatural beings. "There is a legend current among my people that once the Wieroowere unlike us only in that they possessed rudimentary wings. They lived in villages in the Galu country, and while the two peoplesoften warred, they held no hatred for one another. In those dayseach race came up from the beginning and there was great rivalryas to which was the higher in the scale of evolution. The Wieroodeveloped the first cos-ata-lu but they were always male--never could they reproduce woman. Slowly they commenced todevelop certain attributes of the mind which, they considered,placed them upon a still higher level and which gave them manyadvantages over us, seeing which they thought only of mentaldevelopment--their minds became like stars and the rivers, movingalways in the same manner, never varying. They called thistas-ad, which means doing everything the right way, or, inother words, the Wieroo way. If foe or friend, right or wrong,stood in the way of tas-ad, then it must be crushed.

"Soon the Galus and the lesser races of men came to hate andfear them. It was then that the Wieroos decided to carrytas-ad into every part of the world. They were verywarlike and very numerous, although they had long since adoptedthe policy of slaying all those among them whose wings did notshow advanced development.

"It took ages for all this to happen--very slowly came thedifferent changes; but at last the Wieroos had wings theycould use. But by reason of always making war upon their neighborsthey were hated by every creature of Caspak, for no one wantedtheir tas-ad, and so they used their wings to fly to thisisland when the other races turned against them and threatened tokill them all. So cruel had they become and so bloodthirsty thatthey no longer had hearts that beat with love or sympathy; buttheir very cruelty and wickedness kept them from conquering theother races, since they were also cruel and wicked to oneanother, so that no Wieroo trusted another.

"Always were they slaying those above them that they might risein power and possessions, until at last came the more powerfulthan the others with a tas-ad all his own. He gatheredabout him a few of the most terrible Wieroos, and among them theymade laws which took from all but these few Wieroos every weaponthey possessed.

"Now their tas-ad has reached a high plane among them. They make many wonderful things that we cannot make. They thinkgreat thoughts, no doubt, and still dream of greatness to come,but their thoughts and their acts are regulated by ages ofcustom--they are all alike--and they are most unhappy.

As the girl talked, the two moved steadily along the darkpassageway beside the river. They had advanced a considerabledistance when there sounded faintly from far ahead the muffledroar of falling water, which increased in volume as they movedforward until at last it filled the corridor with a deafening sound. Then the corridor ended in a blank wall; but in a niche to theright was a ladder leading aloft, and to the left was a dooropening onto the river. Bradley tried the latter first andas he opened it, felt a heavy spray against his face. The littleshelf outside the doorway was wet and slippery, the roaring ofthe water tremendous. There could be but one explanation--theyhad reached a waterfall in the river, and if the corridoractually terminated here, their escape was effectually cut off,since it was quite evidently impossible to follow the bed of theriver and ascend the falls.

As the ladder was the only alternative, the two turned towardit and, the man first, began the ascent, which was through awell similar to that which had led him to the upper floors ofthe temple. As he climbed, Bradley felt for openings in the sidesof the shaft; but he discovered none below fifty feet. The firsthe came to was ajar, letting a faint light into the well. As hepaused, the girl climbed to his side, and together they lookedthrough the crack into a low-ceiled chamber in which were severalGalu women and an equal number of hideous little replicas of thefull-grown Wieroos with which Bradley was not quite familiar.

He could feel the body of the girl pressed close to his trembleas her eyes rested upon the inmates of the room, and involuntarilyhis arm encircled her shoulders as though to protect her from somedanger which he sensed without recognizing.

"Poor things," she whispered. "This is their horrible fate--tobe imprisoned here beneath the surface of the city with theirhideous offspring whom they hate as they hate their fathers. A Wieroo keeps his children thus hidden until they are full-grownlest they be murdered by their fellows. The lower rooms of thecity are filled with many such as these."

Several feet above was a second door beyond which they found asmall room stored with food in wooden vessels. A grated windowin one wall opened above an alley, and through it they could seethat they were just below the roof of the building. Darkness wascoming, and at Bradley's suggestion they decided to remain hiddenhere until after dark and then to ascend to the roof and reconnoiter.

Shortly after they had settled themselves they heard somethingdescending the ladder from above. They hoped that it wouldcontinue on down the well and fairly held their breath as thesound approached the door to the storeroom. Their hearts sank asthey heard the door open and from between cracks in the vesselsbehind which they hid saw a yellow-slashed Wieroo enter the room. Each recognized him immediately, the girl indicating the fact ofher own recognition by a sudden pressure of her fingers onBradley's arm. It was the Wieroo of the yellow slashing whoseabode was the place of the yellow door in which Bradley had firstseen the girl.

The creature carried a wooden bowl which it filled with driedfood from several of the vessels; then it turned and quit the room. Bradley could see through the partially open doorway that itdescended the ladder. The girl told him that it was taking thefood to the women and the young below, and that while it mightreturn immediately, the chances were that it would remain forsome time.

"We are just below the place of the yellow door," she said. "It is far from the edge of the city; so far that we may nothope to escape if we ascend to the roofs here."

"I think," replied the man, "that of all the places in Oo-oh thiswill be the easiest to escape from. Anyway, I want to return tothe place of the yellow door and get my pistol if it is there."

"It is still there," replied, the girl. "I saw it placed in a chestwhere he keeps the things he takes from his prisoners and victims."

"Good!" exclaimed Bradley. "Now come, quickly. "And the twocrossed the room to the well and ascended the ladder a shortdistance to its top where they found another door that openedinto a vacant room--the same in which Bradley had first metthe girl. To find the pistol was a matter of but a moment'ssearch on the part of Bradley's companion; and then, at theEnglishman's signal, she followed him to the yellow door.

It was quite dark without as the two entered the narrow passagebetween two buildings. A few steps brought them undiscovered tothe doorway of the storeroom where lay the body of Fosh-bal-soj. In the distance, toward the temple, they could hear sounds as ofa great gathering of Wieroos--the peculiar, uncanny wailingrising above the dismal flapping of countless wings.

"They have heard of the killing of Him Who Speaks for Luata,"whispered the girl. "Soon they will spread in all directionssearching for us."

"And will they find us?"

"As surely as Lua gives light by day," she replied; "and whenthey find us, they will tear us to pieces, for only the Wieroosmay murder--only they may practice tas-ad."

"But they will not kill you," said Bradley. "You did not slay him."

"It will make no difference," she insisted. "If they find ustogether they will slay us both."

"Then they won't find us together," announced Bradley decisively. "You stay right here--you won't be any worse off than before Icame--and I'll get as far as I can and account for as many of thebeggars as possible before they get me. Good-bye! You're a mightydecent little girl. I wish that I might have helped you."

"No," she cried. "Do not leave me. I would rather die. I hadhoped and hoped to find some way to return to my own country. I wanted to go back to An-Tak, who must be very lonely without me;but I know that it can never be. It is difficult to kill hope,though mine is nearly dead. Do not leave me."

"An-Tak!" Bradley repeated. "You loved a man called An-Tak?"

"Yes," replied the girl. "An-Tak was away, hunting, when theWieroo caught me. How he must have grieved for me! He also wascos-ata-lu, twelve moons older than I, and all our lives wehave been together.

Bradley remained silent. So she loved An-Tak. He hadn't theheart to tell her that An-Tak had died, or how.

At the door of Fosh-bal-soj's storeroom they halted to listen. No sound came from within, and gently Bradley pushed open the door. All was inky darkness as they entered; but presently their eyesbecame accustomed to the gloom that was partially relieved by thesoft starlight without. The Englishman searched and found thosethings for which he had come--two robes, two pairs of dead wingsand several lengths of fiber rope. One pair of the wings headjusted to the girl's shoulders by means of the rope. Then hedraped the robe about her, carrying the cowl over her head.

He heard her gasp of astonishment when she realized the ingenuityand boldness of his plan; then he directed her to adjust the otherpair of wings and the robe upon him. Working with strong, deftfingers she soon had the work completed, and the two stepped outupon the roof, to all intent and purpose genuine Wieroos. Besides hispistol Bradley carried the sword of the slain Wieroo prophet, whilethe girl was armed with the small blade of the red Wieroo.

Side by side they walked slowly across the roofs toward the northedge of the city. Wieroos flapped above them and several timesthey passed others walking or sitting upon the roofs. From thetemple still rose the sounds of commotion, now pierced byoccasional shrill screams.

"The murderers are abroad," whispered the girl. "Thus willanother become the tongue of Luata. It is well for us, since itkeeps them too busy to give the time for searching for us. They think that we cannot escape the city, and they know thatwe cannot leave the island--and so do I."

Bradley shook his head. "If there is any way, we will find it,"he said.

"There is no way," replied the girl.

Bradley made no response, and in silence they continued until theouter edge of roofs was visible before them. "We are almostthere," he whispered.

The girl felt for his fingers and pressed them. He could feelhers trembling as he returned the pressure, nor did he relinquishher hand; and thus they came to the edge of the last roof.

Here they halted and looked about them. To be seen attempting todescend to the ground below would be to betray the fact that theywere not Wieroos. Bradley wished that their wings were attachedto their bodies by sinew and muscle rather than by ropes of fiber. A Wieroo was flapping far overhead. Two more stood near a door afew yards distant. Standing between these and one of the outerpedestals that supported one of the numerous skulls Bradley madeone end of a piece of rope fast about the pedestal and droppedthe other end to the ground outside the city. Then they waited.

It was an hour before the coast was entirely clear and then amoment came when no Wieroo was in sight. "Now!" whisperedBradley; and the girl grasped the rope and slid over the edge ofthe roof into the darkness below. A moment later Bradley felttwo quick pulls upon the rope and immediately followed to thegirl's side.

Across a narrow clearing they made their way and into a wood beyond. All night they walked, following the river upward toward its source,and at dawn they took shelter in a thicket beside the stream. At notime did they hear the cry of a carnivore, and though many startledanimals fled as they approached, they were not once menaced by awild beast. When Bradley expressed surprise at the absence of thefiercest beasts that are so numerous upon the mainland of Caprona,the girl explained the reason that is contained in one of theirancient legends.

"When the Wieroos first developed wings upon which they couldfly, they found this island devoid of any life other than afew reptiles that live either upon land or in the water andthese only close to the coast. Requiring meat for food theWieroos carried to the island such animals as they wished forthat purpose. They still occasionally bring them, and thiswith the natural increase keeps them provided with flesh."

"As it will us," suggested Bradley.

The first day they remained in hiding, eating only the dried foodthat Bradley had brought with him from the temple storeroom, andthe next night they set out again up the river, continuingsteadily on until almost dawn, when they came to low hills wherethe river wound through a gorge--it was little more than rivuletnow, the water clear and cold and filled with fish similar tobrook trout though much larger. Not wishing to leave the streamthe two waded along its bed to a spot where the gorge widenedbetween perpendicular bluffs to a wooded acre of level land. Here they stopped, for here also the stream ended. They hadreached its source--many cold springs bubbling up from the centerof a little natural amphitheater in the hills and forming a clearand beautiful pool overshadowed by trees upon one side andbounded by a little clearing upon the other.

With the coming of the sun they saw they had stumbled upon aplace where they might remain hidden from the Wieroos for a longtime and also one that they could defend against these wingedcreatures, since the trees would shield them from an attack fromabove and also hamper the movements of the creatures should theyattempt to follow them into the wood.

For three days they rested here before trying to explore theneighboring country. On the fourth, Bradley stated that he wasgoing to scale the bluffs and learn what lay beyond. He told thegirl that she should remain in hiding; but she refused to beleft, saying that whatever fate was to be his, she intended toshare it, so that he was at last forced to permit her to comewith him. Through woods at the summit of the bluff they madetheir way toward the north and had gone but a short distance whenthe wood ended and before them they saw the waters of the inlandsea and dimly in the distance the coveted shore.

The beach lay some two hundred yards from the foot of the hillon which they stood, nor was there a tree nor any other form ofshelter between them and the water as far up and down the coastas they could see. Among other plans Bradley had thought ofconstructing a covered raft upon which they might drift to themainland; but as such a contrivance would necessarily be ofconsiderable weight, it must be built in the water of the sea,since they could not hope to move it even a short distance overland.

"If this wood was only at the edge of the water," he sighed.

"But it is not," the girl reminded him, and then: "Let us makethe best of it. We have escaped from death for a time at least. We have food and good water and peace and each other. What morecould we have upon the mainland?"

"But I thought you wanted to get back to your own country!"he exclaimed.

She cast her eyes upon the ground and half turned away. "I do,"she said, "yet I am happy here. I could be little happier there."

Bradley stood in silent thought. "`We have food and good waterand peace and each other!'" he repeated to himself. He turnedthen and looked at the girl, and it was as though in the daysthat they had been together this was the first time that hehad really seen her. The circumstances that had thrown themtogether, the dangers through which they had passed, all theweird and horrible surroundings that had formed the background ofhis knowledge of her had had their effect--she had been but thecompanion of an adventure; her self-reliance, her endurance, herloyalty, had been only what one man might expect of another, andhe saw that he had unconsciously assumed an attitude toward herthat he might have assumed toward a man. Yet there had been adifference--he recalled now the strange sensation of elation thathad thrilled him upon the occasions when the girl had pressed hishand in hers, and the depression that had followed her announcementof her love for An-Tak.

He took a step toward her. A fierce yearning to seize her andcrush her in his arms, swept over him, and then there flashedupon the screen of recollection the picture of a stately hall setamidst broad gardens and ancient trees and of a proud old manwith beetling brows--an old man who held his head very high--andBradley shook his head and turned away again.

They went back then to their little acre, and the days cameand went, and the man fashioned spear and bow and arrows andhunted with them that they might have meat, and he made hooksof fishbone and caught fishes with wondrous flies of his owninvention; and the girl gathered fruits and cooked the fleshand the fish and made beds of branches and soft grasses. She cured the hides of the animals he killed and made themsoft by much pounding. She made sandals for herself and forthe man and fashioned a hide after the manner of those wornby the warriors of her tribe and made the man wear it, for hisown garments were in rags.

She was always the same--sweet and kind and helpful--but alwaysthere was about her manner and her expression just a trace ofwistfulness, and often she sat and looked at the man when he didnot know it, her brows puckered in thought as though she weretrying to fathom and to understand him.

In the face of the cliff, Bradley scooped a cave from the rottedgranite of which the hill was composed, making a shelter for themagainst the rains. He brought wood for their cook-fire whichthey used only in the middle of the day--a time when there waslittle likelihood of Wieroos being in the air so far from theircity--and then he learned to bank it with earth in such a way thatthe embers held until the following noon without giving off smoke.

Always he was planning on reaching the mainland, and never a daypassed that he did not go to the top of the hill and look outacross the sea toward the dark, distant line that meant forhim comparative freedom and possibly reunion with his comrades. The girl always went with him, standing at his side and watching thestern expression on his face with just a tinge of sadness on her own.

"You are not happy," she said once.

"I should be over there with my men," he replied. "I do not knowwhat may have happened to them."

"I want you to be happy," she said quite simply; "but I shouldbe very lonely if you went away and left me here."

He put his hand on her shoulder. "I would not do that, littlegirl," he said gently. "If you cannot go with me, I shall not go. If either of us must go alone, it will be you."

Her face lighted to a wondrous smile. "Then we shall not beseparated," she said, "for I shall never leave you as long as weboth live."

He looked down into her face for a moment and then: "Who wasAn-Tak? " he asked.

"My brother," she replied. "Why?"

And then, even less than before, could he tell her. It was thenthat he did something he had never done before--he put his armsabout her and stooping, kissed her forehead. "Until you findAn-Tak, he said, "I will be your brother."

She drew away. "I already have a brother," she said, "and I donot want another."