of authority, one left and presently returned with fiber ropes
with which Bradley was tightly bound.

"Now bear him to the Blue Place of Seven Skulls," directed the chief
Wieroo, "and one take the word of all that has passed to Him Who Speaks
for Luata."

Each of the creatures raised a hand, the back against its face, as
though in salute. 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. The houses were piled in
indescribable heaps, sometimes to a height of a hundred feet. The
streets and alleys were short and crooked and there were many areas
where buildings had been wedged in so closely that no light could
possibly reach the lowest tiers, the entire surface of the ground being
packed solidly with them.

The colors were varied and startling, the architecture amazing. Many
roofs were cup or saucer-shaped with a small hole in the center of
each, as though they had been constructed to catch rain-water and
conduct it to a reservoir beneath; but nearly all the others had the
large opening in the top that Bradley had seen used by these flying men
in lieu of doorways. At all levels were the myriad poles surmounted by
grinning skulls; but the two most prominent features of the city were
the round tower of human skulls that Bradley had noted earlier in the
day and another and much larger edifice near the center of the city.
As they approached it, Bradley saw that it was a huge building rising a
hundred feet in height from the ground and that it stood alone in the
center of what might have been called a plaza in some other part of the
world. Its various parts, however, were set together with the same
strange irregularity that marked the architecture of the city as a
whole; and it was capped by an enormous saucer-shaped roof which
projected far beyond the eaves, having the appearance of a colossal
Chinese coolie hat, inverted.

The Wieroo bearing Bradley passed over one corner of the open space
about the large building, revealing to the Englishman grass and trees
and running water beneath. They passed the building and about five
hundred yards beyond the creature alighted on