to was ajar,
letting a faint light into the well. As he paused, the girl climbed to
his side, and together they looked through the crack into a low-ceiled
chamber in which were several Galu women and an equal number of hideous
little replicas of the full-grown Wieroos with which Bradley was not
quite familiar.

He could feel the body of the girl pressed close to his tremble as her
eyes rested upon the inmates of the room, and involuntarily his arm
encircled her shoulders as though to protect her from some danger which
he sensed without recognizing.

"Poor things," she whispered. "This is their horrible fate--to be
imprisoned here beneath the surface of the city with their hideous
offspring whom they hate as they hate their fathers. A Wieroo keeps
his children thus hidden until they are full-grown lest they be
murdered by their fellows. The lower rooms of the city are filled with
many such as these."

Several feet above was a second door beyond which they found a small
room stored with food in wooden vessels. A grated window in one wall
opened above an alley, and through it they could see that they were
just below the roof of the building. Darkness was coming, and at
Bradley's suggestion they decided to remain hidden here until after
dark and then to ascend to the roof and reconnoiter.

Shortly after they had settled themselves they heard something
descending the ladder from above. They hoped that it would continue on
down the well and fairly held their breath as the sound approached the
door to the storeroom. Their hearts sank as they heard the door open
and from between cracks in the vessels behind which they hid saw a
yellow-slashed Wieroo enter the room. Each recognized him immediately,
the girl indicating the fact of her own recognition by a sudden
pressure of her fingers on Bradley's arm. It was the Wieroo of the
yellow slashing whose abode was the place of the yellow door in which
Bradley had first seen the girl.

The creature carried a wooden bowl which it filled with dried food from
several of the vessels; then it turned and quit the room. Bradley
could see through the partially open doorway that it descended the
ladder. The girl told him that it was taking the food to the women and
the young below, and that while it might return immediately, the
chances were that it would remain for some time.

"We are just below the place of the yellow door," she said. "It is far
from the edge of the city