In the meantime the girl moved about the room, keeping out of the way
of the duelists, and as she did so, Bradley 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 intervene 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 defeated 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 antagonist 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 circular 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 highest
who slay one of the red robe. You saw, and you must die!" he ended
with a scream as he rushed upon the girl.
Bradley 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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