And then, even less than before, could he tell her. It was then that
he did something he had never done before--he put his arms about her
and stooping, kissed her forehead. "Until you find An-Tak," he said,
"I will be your brother."
She drew away. "I already have a brother," she said, "and I do not
want another."
Chapter 5
Days became weeks, and weeks became months, and the months followed one
another in a lazy procession of hot, humid days and warm, humid nights.
The fugitives saw never a Wieroo by day though often at night they
heard the melancholy flapping of giant wings far above them.
Each day was much like its predecessor. Bradley splashed about for a
few minutes in the cold pool early each morning and after a time the
girl tried it and liked it. Toward the center it was deep enough for
swimming, and so he taught her to swim--she was probably the first
human being in all Caspak's long ages who had done this thing. And
then while she prepared breakfast, the man shaved--this he never
neglected. At first it was a source of wonderment to the girl, for the
Galu men are beardless.
When they needed meat, he hunted, otherwise he busied himself in
improving their shelter, making new and better weapons, perfecting his
knowledge of the girl's language and teaching her to speak and to write
English--anything that would keep them 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 came that which blasted
the peace and security of their sanctuary forever. Bradley was just
emerging 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 creature 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 constant 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 clearing but a few yards from the
man and the girl.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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