should turn upon him at once, when the chances were fair that he
would be defeated 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 victor clung to the throat of his
defeated antagonist and then he rose, dragging the body after
him, and approached the central column. Here he raised the body
and thrust it into the aperture where Bradley saw it drop
suddenly from sight. Instantly there flashed into his memory the
circular openings in the roof of the river vault and the corpses
he had seen drop from them to the water beneath.

As the body disappeared, the Wieroo turned and cast about the
room for the girl. For a moment 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