ment 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.

"That is what I thought when they dropped me into the Blue Place of
Seven Skulls," replied Bradley. "Can't be done. I did it.--Here!
You're mussing up the floor 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 slip into the tube. Then
he picked up the head and tossed it after the body. "Don't be so
glum," he admonished the former as he carried it toward the well;
"smile!"

"But how can he smile?" questioned the girl, a half-puzzled,
half-frightened look upon her face. "He is dead."

"That's so," admitted Bradley, "and I suppose he does feel a bit cut up
about it."

The girl shook her head and edged away from the man--toward the door.

"Come!" said the Englishman. "We've got to get out of here. If you
don't know a better way than the river, it's the river then."

The girl still eyed him askance. "But how could he smile when he was
dead?"

Bradley laughed aloud.