ge 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, as we
could not accompany them without incurring gr