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. "I thought we English were supposed to have the least sense of humor of any people in the world," he cried; "but now I've found one human being who hasn't any.
Of course you don't know half I'm saying; but don't worry, little girl; I'm not going to hurt you, and if I can get you out of here, I'll do it.
Even if she did not understand all he said, she at least read something in his smiling, countenance--something which reassured her.
"I do not fear you," she said; "though I do not understand all that you say even though you speak my own tongue and use words that I know. But as for escaping"--she sighed--"alas, how can it be done?"
"I escaped from the Blue Place of Seven Skulls," Bradley reminded her. "Come!" And he turned toward the shaft and the ladder that he had ascended from the river. "We cannot waste time here."
The girl followed him; but at the doorway both drew back, for from below came the sound of some one ascending.
Bradley tiptoed to the door and peered cautiously into the well; then he stepped back beside the girl. "There are half a dozen of them coming up; but possibly they will pass this room."
"No," she said, "they will pass directly through this room--they are on their way to Him Who Speaks for Luata. We may be able to hide in the next room--there are skins there beneath which we may crawl. They will not stop in that room; but they may stop in this one for a short time--the other room is blue."
"What's that go to do with it?" demanded the Englishman.