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"The big stones are slippery from bein' in the water. Next I know I'll sit right down in the crick. Then wouldn't Phil be ready to laugh at me! It wonders me now where he is. I wish he'd come once and we'd have some fun." As if in answer to her wish a boyish whistle rang out, followed by a long-drawn "Oo-oh, Manda, where are you?" "Here. Wadin' in the crick," she called. "Come on in."
"Are your people cor-sva-jo or cos-ata-lu?" "I do not understand you," said Bradley; "and now suppose you answer a few questions. Who are you? What country is this? Why did you bring me here?" Again the sepulchral grimace. "We are Wieroos Luata is our father. Caspak is ours. This, our country, is called Oo-oh. He would know from whence you came and why; but principally if you be cos-ata-lu."
"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 we could leave it?" pursued Bradley.
As they steamed down the inland sea past the island of Oo-oh, the stories of their adventures were retold, and Bradley learned that Bowen Tyler and his bride had left the Galu country but a fortnight before and that there was every reason to believe that the Toreador might still be lying in the Pacific not far off the subterranean mouth of the river which emitted Caprona's heated waters into the ocean.
No, he could not escape that seemed evident. The city appeared interminable, and beyond the city, if not a savage wilderness filled with wild beasts, there was the broad inland sea infested with horrid monsters. No wonder his captor felt safe in turning him loose in Oo-oh he wondered if that was the name of the country or the city and if there were other cities like this upon the island.
One seized Bradley and carried him through the yellow doorway to the roof from whence it rose upon its wide-spread wings and flapped off across the roof-tops of Oo-oh with its heavy burden clutched in its long talons. Below him Bradley could see the city stretching away to a distance on every hand. It was not as large as he had imagined, though he judged that it was at least three miles square.
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!"
"It is far from the edge of the city; so far that we may not hope to escape if we ascend to the roofs here." "I think," replied the man, "that of all the places in Oo-oh this will be the easiest to escape from. Anyway, I want to return to the place of the yellow door and get my pistol if it is there." "It is still there," replied, the girl.
"I escaped from Oo-oh," replied Bradley. "I have accomplished the impossible once, and so I shall accomplish it again I shall escape from Caspak." He was not looking at her face as he answered her, and so he did not see the shadow of sorrow that crossed her countenance. When he raised his eyes again, she was smiling. "What you wish, I wish," said the girl.
I saw the moonlit landscape sliding away beneath me, and then we were out above the sea and on our way to Oo-oh, the country of the Wieroo. "The dim outlines of Oo-oh were unfolding below us when there came from above a loud whirring of giant wings. The Wieroo wheeled and dropped almost to sea-level, and then raced southward in an effort to outdistance our pursuers.
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