party was to enter the next chamber; but first each of the
Wieroos removed his curved weapon and laid it upon the floor.
The door was swung open, and the party, now reduced to Bradley
and five Wieroos, was ushered across the threshold into a large,
irregularly shaped room in which a single, giant Wieroo whose
robe was solid blue sat upon a raised dais.

The creature's face was white with the whiteness of a corpse, its
dead eyes entirely expressionless, its cruel, thin lips tight-drawn
against yellow teeth in a perpetual grimace. Upon either side of
it lay an enormous, curved sword, similar to those with which some
of the other Wieroos had been armed, but larger and heavier.
Constantly its clawlike fingers played with one or the other of
these weapons.

The walls of the chamber as well as the floor were entirely
hidden by skins and woven fabrics. Blue predominated in all
the colorations. Fastened against the hides were many pairs of
Wieroo wings, mounted so that they resembled long, black shields.
Upon the ceiling were painted in blue characters a bewildering
series of hieroglyphics and upon pedestals set against the walls
or standing out well within the room were many human skulls.

As the Wieroos approached the figure upon the dais, they leaned
far forward, raising their wings above their heads and stretching
their necks as though offering them to the sharp swords of the
grim and hideous creature.

"O Thou Who Speakest for Luata!" exclaimed one of the party.
"We bring you the strange creature that Fosh-bal-soj captured