Out of Time's Abyss

omfortable position. He could see nothing of his surroundings in the gloom about him until after a few minutes

y other opening than that through which he had been lowered. In one corner was a hud

en imbued with a belief that the fiber ropes were too weak to hold him, he worked on with a firm conviction that sooner or later they would part to his straini

r. Perhaps his overwrought nerves were playing a sorry joke upon him. He thought of this and also that his condition of utter helplessness might still further have stimulated his imagination. He closed his eyes an

onger was there any doubt that it moved-he saw it rise in the center several inches and then creep closer to him. It

st unstrung him, for at best he was only human. To stand in the open, even with the odds all against him; to be able to use his fists, to put up some sort of defense, to inflict puni

groan. Bradley felt his hair rise upon his head. He struggled with the slowly parting strands that held him. The thing beside him rose up higher than before and the Englishman could have sworn tha

at last they tumbled upon the floor from the body of a naked man-a thin, a bony, a hideous caricature of man, that mouthe

d! Food!" it screamed. "There i

Englishman's breast. "Food!" it shrilled as with its bon

t; but once more with hideous persistence the thing fastened itself upon him. The weak jaws were unable to send the dull t

. Weak as it was it had strength enough for this in its mad efforts to eat. Mumbling as it worked, it repeated again

hurled it halfway across the room. Panting like a spent hound Bradley worked at the thongs about his ankles while the maniac lay quivering and mumbling where it had fallen.

fro as its eyes roved about in search of him; and when at last they found him, there broke from the drawn lips the mumbled words: "Food! Food! There is a way out!" The pitiful supplication in the tones touched the

by the constant reiteration of the phrase, "There is a wa

g have you been here?" B

or made no response, then mumblin

. It brought the man to a sitting posture, his hands off the ground. He stopped swaying to and fro

ted his quest

Caspakian equivalent of thirty. "I was young and strong when they brought me here. Now I am old and very weak. I am cos-ata-lu-that is why they

ata-lu?" dema

e is a way out!"

floor, seized the man by h

cried, "what i

whimpere

ere odds and ends of equipment and a small quantity of dried meat. He tossed a small strip of the latter

a-lu?" insisted

pak. In it he found explanations of the hitherto inexplicable. He discovered why he had seen no babes or children among the Caspakian tribes with which he had come in contact; why each more northerly tribe evinced a higher state of development than those south of them; why each tribe included individuals ranging in physical and mental characteristics

the countless billions of eggs and tadpoles, developing as they drifted slowly toward the sea. Some became tadpoles in the pool, some in the sluggish stream and some not until they reached the great inland sea. In the next stage they became fishes or reptiles, An-Tak was not positive which, and in this form, always developing, th

gg, then, the individual developed slowly into a higher form, just as the frog's egg develops through various stages from a fish with gills to a frog with

in the warm pools of the various races and floated down to the great sea to go through a similar process of evolution outside the womb as develops our own young within; but in Caspak the scheme is much more inclusive, for it combines n

world of mammals. Some of the Galus produce cos-ata-lu and cos-ata-lo both; the Wieroos only cos-ata-lu-in other words all Wieroos are born male, and so they prey upon the Galus for their w

ing before a cos-ata-lu child may be born; and when one considers the frightful dangers that surround the vital spark from the moment it leaves the warm pool where it has been deposited to float down to the sea amid the voracious creatures that swarm the surface and the

ancestor achieved the state of Galu. For ages before, the ancestors of this first Galu may have developed from a Band-

e truth slowly filtered into his understanding-as gradually it became possible for him to visualize the scheme,

, neither spoke again. Then the Galu recommenced his, "Food! Food! There is a way out!" Bradley to

y saying there is a

y out, that he had discovered it but was too weak to use his knowledge. He was trying

eed you here?"

e water once a d

ave you li

d eat me, and they are better than nothing; but of late they do not come so often, and I have not had a lizard for a long time. I shall eat th

no sound-he awaited the moment that sleep should overcome his victim. In the long silence there was born upon Bradley's

. "That sounds like water runn

grounds, beneath the temple and under the city. When we die, they will cut off our heads and throw our bodies into the river. At the mouth of the rive

up the river into th

ver leave the warm water of th

r the way out," s

d for it all these moons," he said. "I

discovered a sleeping-perch near one end of the apartment. He asked An-Tak about it, but the Galu said that no Weiroo had occupied the place since he had been incarcerated there. Again and a

ger in diameter than his forefinger, which he immediately stuck into it. The panel, if such it was, seemed about an inch thick, and beyond it his finger encountered nothing. Bradley crooked his finger upon the opposite side of the panel and pulled toward him

his haversack for a match, a few of which remained to him. When he struck it, An-Tak gave a cry of terror. Bradley held the light far into the opening before him and in its f

" screamed An-Tak. "Oh, Luata! And now I am too

s in a minute, and neither of us will escape. Be quiet, and I'll go ahead. If I find a

I am half crazed of hunger and long confinement and the horror

upper lip." And he slipped through the opening, found the ladder with his

ould see nothing of his surroundings and felt nothing but the smooth, worn sides and rungs of the la

what felt like large round stones, but what he knew from experience to be human skulls. He could not but marvel as to where so many countless thousands of the things had come from, until he paused to consider that the infancy of Caspak dated doubtless

h space there was between the water and the arch he could not tell, nor how deep the former. There was only one way in which he might learn these things, and that was to lower himself into the stream. For only an instant he hesitated weighing his chances. Behind him lay almost certainly the horrid fate of An-Tak; before hi

his feet a firm, gravel bottom. Feeling his way cautiously he moved downward with the c

ss his hand came suddenly in contact with a slimy thing clinging to the wall-a thing that hissed and scuttled out of reach.

water ahead of him and wriggled away. Time and again his hand touched them and never for an instant could he be sure that at the next step some gruesome thing might not atta

the ladder he had counted his every step. He had promised to return for An-Tak if it proved humanly possible to

etched forth his right hand to push away the object that now had lodged against his body. His fingers feeling through the darkness came in contact with something cold and clammy-they passed to and fro over the thing until Bradl

ly he experienced the sensation of being surrounded by dead faces floating along with him, all set in hideous grimaces, their dead eyes glaring a

n either hand walls pierced at intervals by apertures covered with wooden doors. Just ahead of him in the roof of the aqueduct was a round, black hole about thirty inches in diameter. His eyes still rested upon the opening when there shot downward from it to the water below the naked body of a human being which almost immediately rose to the surface again and floated off

only two more passing him before, at six hundred steps, or about five hundred yards, from the point he had take

clothed in the white robe of a Wieroo, blood-s

several acres of grass and tree-covered ground, spanning the stream which disappeared through an opening in its foundation wall. From the large saucer-shaped roof and

but by what other avenue he might escape, Bradley could not guess, unless he retraced his steps up the stream and sought egress from the other end of the city. The thought of traversing that dark and horror-ridden tunnel for perhaps miles he could not entertain-there must be

guessed it to be-a headless and wingless Wieroo corpse. With a grunt of disgust he was about to push it from him when the white garment enshrouding it suggested a bold plan to his resourceful brain. Grasping the corpse by an arm he tore the garment from it and then let the body float downward toward the temple. With great care he drap

wail upon the right-hand shore, and his heart stood still lest his ruse had been discovered; but never by a move of a muscle did he betray that aught but a cold lump of clay fl

him the river turned a sharp corner and disappeared. Feeling his way cautiously forward he approached the turn and looked around the corner. To his left was a lo

and wondering what lay behind, his mind filled with fragments of many wild schemes of escape, it opened and a white robed Wieroo stepped out upon the platform. The creature carried a large wooden basin filled with rubbish. Its eyes were not upon Bradley, who drew himself to a squatting position and crouched as far back in the corner of the niche

move. The Wieroo stopped and stared intently at him. It approached him questioningly. Still Bradley remained as though carved of

struck the Wieroo upon the point of the chin. Without a sound the thing crumpled to the platform, while Bradley, acti

another. There was no Wieroo in sight, so the Englishman entered. At the far end of the room was another door, and as he crossed toward it, he glanced into some of the vessels, which he found were fi

t was his intention to reconnoiter in the hope that he might discover some easier way out

the foot of it, debating the wisdom of further investigation against a return to the river; but strong within him was the spirit of exploration that has scattered his race to the four corners of the earth. What new mysteries lay hidden in the cham

. Here he discovered a door already ajar opening into a large, circular chamber, the walls and floors of which were covered with the skins of wild beasts and with rugs of many colors; but what interested him most was the occupants of the room-a Wieroo, and a girl of human proportions. She was standing with her back against a c

and He Who Speaks for Luata will claim you for his own; and when he is done with you, your skull will bleach at the top of a tall staff while your body feeds the reptiles at the mouth of the

inst you all." From the throat of the Wieroo issued that dismal wail that Bradley had heard so often in the past-it was like a scream of pain smothe

to admit a huge Wieroo clothed entirely in red. At sight of the two struggling upon the floor the newcomer raised h

e Who Speaks for young, reproduction and kindred subjects shall have heard

ating their wings, wailing and groaning, the two hideous things sparred for position. The white-robed one being unarmed sought to grasp the other by the wrist of its knife-hand and by the throat, while the latter hopped around on its dainty white feet, seeking an opening for a mortal blo

ed 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

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 Dea

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 t

xclaimed. "How

he said; "but the thing now is

head. "It cannot be

something awful, you." This last to the dead Wieroo as he stooped and dragged the corpse to the central shaft, where he raised it to the aperture and let it sli

he girl, a half-puzzled, half-fright

ey, "and I suppose he does

d and edged away from

get out of here. If you don't know a bett

skance. "But how could he

the world," he cried; "but now I've found one human being who hasn't any. Of course you don't know half I'm s

which reassured her. "I do not fear you," she said; "though I do not understand all that you say even though

ed her. "Come!" And he turned toward the shaft and the ladder t

orway both drew back, for from below

ll; then he stepped back beside the girl. "There are half a d

r Luata. We may be able to hide in the next room-there are skins there beneath which we may crawl. Th

do with it?" dema

lue-a certain amount for each murder. When the room is all blue, they shun it. This room

outside of every house I

ses-when all the rooms are blue then the whole outside of the house will

n them?" inquired Bradley. "D

Him Who Speaks for Luata and are advanced, after which they wear robes with a slash of some color-I think yellow comes first. When they reach a point where the entire robe is of yellow, they discard it for a white robe with a r

a wall and drew a pile of hides over themselves. A moment later they heard a number of Wieroos enter the chamber. They were talking together as they crossed the floor, or the

ould not fathom, for he could not know that from beneath one of the hides that covered him protruded one of his heavy army shoes, or that some eig

ently from beneath the hides to find himself surrounded by menacing blades. They would have slain him on the spot had

iver trip alone and regretted that now he could not accompany her. He felt rather all in, himself, more so than he had at any time since he had been captured by the Wieroo, for there appeared not the slightest cause for hope in his present predicament. He had drop