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"I knew that we had covered a great distance, for the rush of the wind by my face
attested the speed of our progress, but I had no idea where we were when at last I
realized that the Wieroo was weakening. One of the jo-oos gained on us and
succeeded in heading us, so that my captor had to turn in toward the coast.
Further and further they forced him to the left; lower and lower he sank. More
labored was his breathing, and weaker the stroke of his once powerful wings. We
were not ten feet above the ground when they overtook us, and at the edge of a
forest. One of them seized the Wieroo by his right wing, and in an effort to free
himself, he loosed his grasp upon me, dropping me to earth. Like a frightened
ecca I leaped to my feet and raced for the sheltering sanctuary of the forest,
where I knew neither could follow or seize me. Then I turned and looked back to
see two great reptiles tear my abductor asunder and devour him on the spot.
"
I was saved; yet I felt that I was lost. How far I was from the country of the
Galus I could not guess; nor did it seem probable that I ever could make my way
in safety to my native land.
"
Day was breaking; soon the carnivora would stalk forth for their first kill; I was
armed only with my knife. About me was a strange landscape--the flowers, the
trees, the grasses, even, were different from those of my northern world, and
presently there appeared before me a creature fully as hideous as the Wieroo--a
hairy manthing that barely walked erect. I shuddered, and then I fled. Through
the hideous dangers that my forebears had endured in the earlier stages of their
human evolution I fled; and always pursuing was the hairy monster that had
discovered me. Later he was joined by others of his kind. They were the
speechless men, the Alus, from whom you rescued me, my Tom. From then on,
you know the story of my adventures, and from the first, I would endure them all
again because they led me to you!"
It was very nice of her to say that, and I appreciated it. I felt that she was a
mighty nice little girl whose friendship anyone might be glad to have; but I wished
that when she touched me, those peculiar thrills would not run through me. It
was most discomforting, because it reminded me of love; and I knew that I never
could love this half-baked little barbarian. I was very much interested in her
account of the Wieroo, which up to this time I had considered a purely
mythological creature; but Ajor shuddered so at even the veriest mention of the
name that I was loath to press the subject upon her, and so the Wieroo still
remained a mystery to me.
While the Wieroo interested me greatly, I had little time to think about them, as
our waking hours were filled with the necessities of existence--the constant battle
for survival which is the chief occupation of Caspakians. To-mar and So-al were
now about fitted for their advent into Kro-lu society and must therefore leave us,
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